


A match for us

by Blue13



Category: DAYS (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Angst, Atomu Isurugi, DAYS!, Fanart, Friends to Lovers, Hoshina Mitsuru, Hoshina Seiya, Kaidou Hayato - Freeform, Kamimura Shikibu, M/M, Mental Breakdown, Touin, Ubukata Chikako - Freeform, Ura Shizuka - Freeform, possible spoilers if you don't read manga raws, pro soccer players - Freeform, tags will vary as the story goes on
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-26
Updated: 2019-04-29
Packaged: 2019-07-02 19:02:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 23,319
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15802662
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Blue13/pseuds/Blue13
Summary: Just a couple of months had passed since they both competed at the Interhigh and there they both were again, at Nationals. However, the toilet was not the place where Aiba expected to meet him.The story begins at ch. 212 (Seiseki vs Ryouzan)*new fanart added at ch. 6! :)





	1. A match for us

Just a couple of months had passed since they both competed at the Interhigh and there they both were again, at Nationals. However, the toilet was not the place where Aiba expected to meet him. He expected to see him on the field wearing his white and purple uniform. That was the place Takumi Hoshina belonged to. Moving around, carefully observing the game, tackling and blocking the enemy with his innate elegance, crossing with precision, being the captain every team would like to have. Aiba was perfectly aware that that was Hoshina’s last high school year and he had hoped to finally get the chance to face him on the pitch in a match. To tell the truth, he had been hoping that since his first high school national championship, two years ago, where he saw Hoshina playing. That will came just natural to him, a young prodigy eager to challenge every talent he crossed path with. A strong forward looking for a strong wall to test his brute force. Who could be better than one of Tokyo’s Big Three and Japan’s Top Ten to see how far he had come and how far he must still go?

Anyway, challenging himself was not the only reason. He simply _wanted_ to play against him. He was fascinated by how he could intercept passes and block the opponents’ attacks. Looking at him it seemed the easiest thing to do in the world, but he knew that it wasn’t. It wasn’t easy at all. Training was needed, innate talent was needed. _Passion_ was needed. The thing was, Aiba had heard a lot about him.

About him being one of Japan’s best young midfielders and an amazing captain.

And about him being extremely serious, cold even, not showing any feeling on the pitch, neither joy nor sorrow, just focusing on the game.

_“He’s good but I don’t like him. Too serious.”_

_“It doesn’t even look like he’s having fun playing soccer.”_

_“I wouldn’t stand being in team with him.”_

Those were just some of the many comments he had heard about him during those years of high school soccer. They always left him surprised, incredulous. Basically there were people in Japan who thought that Takumi Hoshina had talent, yes, but lacked passion for soccer. According to Aiba, they were all mistaken. They just needed to look at his seriousness differently. It was namely his well-known strictness what showed clearer than anything else that Hoshina cared for soccer like for his own life. Under that serious expression of his Aiba was sure that a burning love for that game kept that guy alive. And namely that charming seriousness was what attracted him so badly.

 

 

And then that happened.

 _“Did you guys hear? Touin didn’t qualify for Nationals!”_ That day Niiro entered the locker room shouting the big news. Aiba stopped breathing for a second, eyes wide open.

 _“Who did they lose to?”_ Kamimura asked with a quiet, yet surprised tone.

 _“To Seiseki! They have Monster Mizuki!”_ Niiro was waving the sport magazine like crazy. Kamimura took it, read the first lines and sighed.

_“Well, it will be the first time in three years that Touin won’t play at Nationals. I feel sorry for Hoshina, this had to be his last championship and everyone expected big things from him. It’s a pity.”_

And Aiba was one of those people. His hands clenched in fists and he felt anger boiling in his veins. That was it. He wouldn’t have had the chance he had been asking for months, even years. He wouldn’t have met him again. He wouldn’t have played against him. His dream, or rather _obsession_ , to finally face him fell into pieces, shattered.

 

 

And in the end he saw him there, in the toilet during Seiseki-Ryouzan's match, wearing that black school uniform which Aiba hated so much but which at the same time perfectly fitted Hoshina.

 _“A serious uniform for a serious guy, uh?”_ Aiba thought to himself while approaching him. Who knew if Hoshina remembered him, who knew if he had ever heard talking about him. Aiba was a second-year but already in the Top Ten, however he considered Touin’s midfielder still way above him in the pyramid of soccer elites. And what better way to greet such an elite than one of his gags? He popped out on his side in the least appropriate moment, a moment when the holy concepts of _privacy_ and _tact_ should be applied. He had been lingering over what to say for a good couple of minutes, however, as soon as he instinctively laid his eyes on what Hoshina’s hands were holding, his brain opted straight for the concept it knew better: that of _idiocy_.

“Hooo, what a nice one you’ve got there!”Aiba shouted feigning his surprise. Hoshina’s reaction was unforgettable. It was evident that he had been lost in his thoughts and his mind was forced to come back straight to reality. His eyes opened wide and his head suddenly turned in his direction. When he recognised him it was already too late: his cheeks were already painted in red. Finally their eyes met, their faces one near the other. Aiba’s eyes and brain memorised that unique expression, perfectly aware that not everyone could have the honour to see that. The expression of Hoshina’s _embarrassment_.

After a couple of seconds the magic ended. Hoshina’s dark eyes narrowed and a dull expression, which seemed to say something like “ _ah, it’s you_ ”, spread over his face. His cheeks quickly returned to the normal colour of his skin. Aiba saw him close the zip of his trousers, flush and turn away to wash his hands. All this in deadly silence. The thought of having annoyed him hit the younger, who, after having taken care of his private needs, followed the midfielder outside the toilet. He was about to apologise when Hoshina finally spoke.

“What an absurd guy.”

Aiba remained petrified, his mouth open, not knowing what to say. Then he burst into laughter, as he always did.

“HAHAHA! I’m joking, I’m joking!”

To tell the truth, the only thing he could think of was that at least Hoshina could speak. Apparently he didn’t speak in the toilet. Apparently, unlike him, he knew how to behave in a public toilet and how to avoid disturbing others.

 _“Well.. this is some real tact.”_ They had been together just for a few minutes and Hoshina already looked to him like a good example to follow.

 

During the second time they followed the match and discussed the game actions. Every now and then the fans’ gazes focused on the two young players and Aiba could hear some of them whispering and feel their fingers pointing at them, screaming in silence _“Hey, those two! They are Takumi Hoshina from Touin and Miran Aiba from Ichiboshi! Two of the Top Ten together!”_ After some time he realised that he was feeling extremely proud. First he thought he was simply proud of himself, of being known as a Top Ten player although he was still a second year. However, that was not the first time people recognised him and whispered comments about him being an elite player. To tell the truth, he was already accustomed to that. So there was another reason for this sense of proudness. And the longer he stood alongside Hoshina, the more he realised that it was namely Hoshina the reason. The fact that he didn’t pushed him away despite the way he introduced himself in the toilet. The fact that he accepted his presence and that watching the match together was okay to him.

“So you know who I am, huh?” The younger asked boastfully, nearly joking about his fame. In reality he was perfectly aware that being famous among fans didn’t mean being famous - and _accepted_ \- by other players. Especially _elite_ players.

“Of course I do. You are Miran Aiba.” Hoshina turned his head in his direction, his eyes meeting the ones of the young striker. Then he continued with his usual calmness.

“I remember you very well.”

Aiba felt like a bomb had just exploded in his chest. Then he really knew him! He did remember him, and _very well_! He was tempted to scream, to shake hands with him and congratulate him for that and to turn to the people surrounding them and say _“see? He knows me!”_ Yet he managed to control his instinct, which would have made him look like a demented person ready for the psychiatric ward. Instead he opted for a big smile and focused back on the game. They both rejoiced as Seiseki were able to tie, yet when they scored the final goal and the final whistle echoed in the stadium they were both so happy and incredulous that they didn’t even know how to react. That match had been a miracle, an incredible amazing miracle.

In that moment Aiba couldn’t hold back anymore. He let his joy free and he broke the sacred distance that Hoshina had settled between them since the beginning, or better, the distance Hoshina always settled with every other person. He laid his arm on the midfielder’s shoulder with momentum, drawing near him.

“Let’s go out tonight!” He said with a dazzling smile and winking at him, as if he meant to say “ _c’mon, it’s going to be fun, you can’t say no!”_ Hoshina glanced for an instant at the guy’s hand laid on his shoulder, then his face turned to Aiba’s smile. A face which, again, showed little to no emotion. His intense dark eyes framed by his soft fringe and those long black eyelashes pierced Aiba’s ones like knifes. It was a matter of a couple of seconds, yet to Aiba it seemed to have lasted for entire minutes. And then came the answer - a monosyllable said in a quiet tone.

“Okay.”

“G- good…” Aiba felt an awkward sense of insecurity which didn’t fit him. Those big eyes were what left him tensed, as if they had been able to see the secrets hidden in the deepest corner of his soul. It really was an awkward feeling. He felt naked, exposed. Yet, they were just two eyes. Okay, two really _beautiful_ eyes. He blamed the closeness of their faces, which let him clearly distinguish the long black eyelashes one from another and depict the slightest shades of colour in his iris.

 _“I’m a bit tired, after all…”_ He thought to himself, trying one more time to justify that strange feeling.

“Then…are we going?” Aiba asked smiling and boasting like always, trying to look normal and yet being perfectly aware that someone like him could never define himself _normal_.

“Yes, sure.” Only then he took away his arm from Hoshina’s shoulder and they both headed towards the stadium’s exit.

 

 

They sat at one of the many Starbucks in the city centre, choosing a table in the garden. It was pretty cold, but the sky was clear and the moon could be seen beyond the top of Tokyo’s skyscrapers. As soon as their coffees were delivered, both of them clenched their hands around the hot cups, finally warming up and ready to restart their conversation. They talked about their future in soccer, their plans, their experiences against Seiseki and the matches of the following days. Aiba turned out to be fond of Hoshina. It was clear that he was quite a smart guy and talking to him was really pleasant. He felt that although he was just one year older than him, he had already so much experience not only in soccer, but apparently in life overall. Hoshina was the type of guy you could always learn from and lean on. He was reliable, he was intelligent and - again - he was serious. Aiba didn’t know if they were already friends. Well, to him Hoshina was already a friend, but he didn’t understand how the other felt toward him. His seriousness now was confusing. Was he just being kind to him like a receptionist is kind to a guest or was he there because he started considering him like a possible friend? He didn’t look like the type of person who knows a thousand people and therefore has a thousand friends. On the contrary, he seemed to be the kind of guy who picked carefully those to keep close to him. Few but good, right? And the more they talked and sipped their coffee enjoying their evening, the more Aiba wanted to know more about him and become one of those few lucky friends.

 _“If only I could have played with him… maybe now we could’ve been talking about our match.”_ It’s not that he was afraid that Hoshina didn’t respect him. He knew perfectly well that that guy was never mean to his opponents and he already told him that he remembered him and considered him a great player. He was grateful for that, yet he felt that there was still something missing. And that something was a match between their teams.

“I’m sorry.” Aiba muttered with a low voice, his eyes fixed on the hot cup. Hoshina looked at him confused, raising an eyebrow.

“For what?”

“For not having played with you once. I really wanted to do that. I hoped we could meet at Nationals…but you weren’t there.”

 _“Okay, I said that.”_ Aiba sighed, realising that he had finally expressed with words his problem. No, “problem” wasn’t even the right word to describe what he felt. It was simply something that made him _sad_ and _regretful_. It was a missed moment of his high school life which Aiba had hold dear.

“Then I’m the one who should apologise. I’m the one who lost, so I’m at fault here.” Hoshina seemed to understand. He seemed to perceive the importance that longed-for match had for Aiba and was ready to take responsibility for it. At the end of the day it was his team that didn’t qualify, not Aiba’s. It was his penalty kick that was saved, not Aiba’s. Still, the younger went on with his thoughts, speaking with a soft voice and not conceding him any other space to blame himself. He didn’t want him to feel responsible for what looked like a whim of his.

“You know, you really are amazing. I really like you.” At that point Aiba clearly saw Hoshina’s big shiny eyes open wide, his eyelashes flutter and an incredulous expression spread all over his face. He opened his eyes in turn, realizing that he had just made the _serious_ Hoshina show a feeling he wasn’t familiar with for the second time in a day. At this thought his spine shuddered. Only then he realized that a part of the sentence was still missing. He nearly choked with the sip of coffee and tried to save his dignity in front of a speechless Hoshina, while his heart was racing like crazy.

“Y-yes, I mean…As a player!” The older one emitted a long sigh, which seemed to say something like “ _God, help this hopeless guy, I beg you_ ”. Aiba’s face turned red for the embarrassment, as if he guessed Hoshina’s thoughts. And then that sentence again, which seemed to be Hoshina’s favourite one when addressing him.

“What an absurd guy.” Aiba mumbled, his hands clenching around his hot coffee.

“Stop saying that I’m absurd! I’m not absurd…” Finishing the sentence he averted his gaze to another table. It was the second time in a couple of hours that that guy had called him absurd. Why? Was popping out of nowhere in a toilet that absurd???

“You think so?” Hoshina’s question brought him back from his thoughts. The midfielder was now resting his cheek on the hand, piercing him again with an interested gaze. Aiba shuddered, remembering the feeling of insecurity he had before.

“Y- yes… I’m……I’M ORIGINAL!” His voice pitch increased automatically, while the younger player tried to give himself some composure and reliability, miserably failing.

 _“An idiot. I’m an idiot.”_ He thought that there was no need to say it out loud, since Hoshina would have told him the same pretty soon. To his surprise, however, the midfielder’s gaze sweetened incredibly, while his lips curved in a slight smile and his voice came out soft and kind.

“Yeah, I guess you are the original one here.” Aiba noticed some melancholy in that smile, as if that conversation had just ended up upsetting him somehow, as if he touched a delicate string of his character. He needed to find a way to change the subject and channel their conversation into another direction, so he took up his coffee and smiled again happily.

“Then… cheers for our future match!!!” He burst into laughter like he always did, while that same old question continued to hammer at his mind.

_“Because there will be a match for us, right?”_

“Cheers.” Hoshina answered to his toast in the opposite way, raising his cup with his usual composure and smiling quietly and kindly. In that moment Aiba compared their behaviours to the Sun and the Moon respectively, one always boastful and full of energy, the other cool headed and calm. Lost in his astronomic thoughts the striker sipped his coffee until he finished it and Hoshina did the same. Apparently there was nothing more keeping them in that place and the midfielder asked him if he wanted to take a walk before going back to his hotel. Of course Aiba said yes.

 

They opted for a park rather than the streets of the city centre, since both of them were always recognisable by some curious fans. Hoshina showed him the way, sometimes pointing at some buildings or some signs and explaining them to Aiba like a tourist guide. The younger felt at ease with him, although sometimes he had the feeling of saying or doing something wrong and upsetting his friend.

“Aiba.” The guy came back from reality, his mind still fretting about a thousand things, and turned in his direction, with questioning eyes.

“Yeah?”

“Do you have half an hour?”

“Yes, why?”

“Follow me.” Hoshina made a sign with his head and headed towards a little playground hidden in the darkness. The forward closed the distance between them right away, still confused.

_“Oh my God, where is he taking me to?”_

It was dark and he didn’t know the city very well, so after a few steps his brain started picturing murder scenes and blood running all over the place. A shudder of terror ran along his spine, while he blamed himself for being such a loser. Aiba always looked so boastful, yet the reality was that in some situations he was a real scaredy-cat.

 

The two entered in the playground made of concrete, where two baskets stood at its ends. Aiba stopped. Two street lights gave out a feeble light, yet he was able to see his companion at some meters of distance. He saw him walking a few more steps until he reached the corner of the playground, where an old ruined ball lay. His gaze then followed his tall body coming back from the dark while softly kicking the ball. Aiba realised with surprise that he didn’t even notice that ball at first, being so focused on his own thoughts. And to his greater surprise, he also realised that it wasn’t a basketball, but a normal ball kids usually play with. One of them had clearly forgotten it, but to Aiba it seemed like someone had put it there for them on purpose. Hoshina stopped in front of him, resting one hand on his hip and keeping the ball at his place with his foot. Maybe because of the peculiar atmosphere, maybe because of the coffee he had just finished drinking, maybe because those flipping eyes never stopped following him, maybe just because of _him_ , but to Aiba it seemed to have a warrior in front of him. Standing straight up in that way, that guy emanated proudness and courage, as if he was in the middle of the pitch in the finals, wearing the captain band, ready to go.

“You wanted to play against me, right?” Aiba nodded, waiting the rest of the sentence and hearing in his ears his heart pounding fast.

“Well… right now I can’t give you the match you asked for… the only thing I can give you now is this playground, this old ball and.. well… myself, I guess.”

Aiba remained silent, his brain overwhelmed by all that was happening in so little time. He opened his mouth so speak, but nothing came out. He was surprised.. no, more.. he was _moved_ by that guy’s sensitivity to others’ feelings.

“Well..” Hoshina kicked the ball and passed to him, “Do you accept my offer? 1 vs 1?”

Aiba observed the ball rolling toward him and stopped it with his foot. He remained silent for a few more seconds, still incredulous. Then he suddenly felt excitement fill every corner of his soul and adrenaline burning in his veins. His heart began racing, his muscles were tensed like at the beginning of an important match. He couldn’t name all the feelings he felt at the moment. He was excited, grateful, happy, lucky. But more importantly, he was finally _ready_.

“Yes!”

And Aiba gave him one of the happiest and purest smile of his life.

 


	2. Sloth!

_Sloth!_

* * *

 

“…H- Hello..”

“GOOOOOD MORNING! IT’S AIBA!”

Hoshina had to move his phone away from his ear not to go deaf. He gave a quick look at the alarm next to the bed, his eyes having a hard time staying open. It was 7 o’clock in the morning and the sky was cloudy. There were very few things he didn’t like, and one of them was being woken up by a phone call early in the morning when he actually had the chance to sleep. It was even worse in winter, when he simply loved to sleep until late in the morning - when he could of course, that meant very rarely.

“Good morningwah” He couldn’t avoid the loud yawn. In the meanwhile, a shiver made him realise that one of his feet was out of the bed, uncovered, - God knows for how long it had been there - and that it was _freezing_. With a sudden movement he brought it back under the warm blanket, while turning upside down on his stomach and listening to a surprised Aiba.

“Were… were you sleeping?!” Hoshina sighed, his patience already put to the test.

“What am I supposed to do at 7 o’clock in the morning, in winter, when I have no classes and no matches?”

“TO RUN! YOU ARE A TOP TEN PLAYER!!!”

“There is no rule that says Top Ten players must run in the morning…I can run in the aft-”

“HOSHINA I DIDN’T THINK YOU WERE A LAZY SLOTH OH MY GOD.” The midfielder rolled his eyes, cursing himself.

 _“Why did I give him my number yesterday…”_ Good question. That was a good question. He also noticed something strange about Aiba’s voice, as if for some instants he was short of breath. Then he realised that he was running, like a Top Ten player was expected to do, apparently. He gave a look at the window, where between the curtains a grey dark sky was greeting him and an expression of repulsion spread over his face.

“I give up. What do you want?”

“I wanted to tell you TWO things!” Hoshina opened his eyes wide in despair. _“Too many.”_ He thought to himself and rested his cheek on the pillow, ready to listen and to suffer in silence. Everyone knew about his seriousness and determination. Very few knew that every morning he needed some time to get off a good start.

“First one! Are you going to the matches today?”

“Of course I am.”

“ _Yes of course you are_ , since they are in the afternoon you have plenty of time to get up, SLOTH.” It was taking everything Aiba had not to burst into laughter. He could clearly hear Hoshina muttering words buried under blankets and pillows and the scene painted in his head was too much to bear. He didn’t get any answer though, so he went on.

“And…are you going with someone?”

“Yes, with some of my teammates and my brother.”

“Oh, okay.” Aiba imagined that he might already have plans, so he wasn’t that surprised. “Then.. nothing!”

“Why are you asking?” Hoshina realised that he had answered him with a deathly tone, which maybe had sounded rude to the younger one. If he asked him, there had to be a reason.

“No.. uhmm..” He was puffing more now due to his run. “I thought that maybe we could watch also today’s matches together. I’m with my team too but… it was cool yesterday. You could sit with us if you want.”

“That’s okay for me.”

“Oka- Wait, what? Are you sure? But - _huff_ \- but there is your brother, I don’t want to separate two brothers!”

 _“Did they put some drugs in his coffee last night?”_ This time yes, he was surprised. He couldn’t understand whether that guy was purely kind to him, whether he liked being available to people in general or whether his brain had still to switch on.

“You won’t kill us. I’ll see him later, no problem. Send me a message later with your position when you get to the stadium, bye b-”

“NO WAIT! THERE’S THE SECOND THING!” That shout emptied out his lungs and he had to slower the pace of his run to take deeper breaths. Said in other words, his oblivious interlocutor, who was gripping his pillow like a sloth, - _at least this was how he pictured him in his head_ \- was gradually killing him.

“Nnnh…” Hoshina sank his head into the pillow, in agony. He was ready to hang up, as he had totally forgotten about the second thing. Why was waking up in the morning and thinking at the same time so hard?

“Do you really want to go back to sleep so bad?!?” _And Aiba wasn’t helping him_.

“Tell me. Quick.”

“W- well… I wanted to thank you. For last night. It was amazing.” In that moment Aiba stopped. It’s not that he was particularly tired, on the contrary. He stopped because he wanted to be surrounded by complete silence in order to hear Hoshina’s answer perfectly. The sound of his feet wasn’t annoying, since he had a very light way of running, but he felt that it would have disturbed him in that _important_ moment. Yet on the other side of the phone call Hoshina didn’t need any second to answer.

“No need to thank me. See you later.”

“WAI-” He didn’t even give him the time to finish the first word and he hung up. A second later he was up, rushing to the toilet. It wasn’t a matter of waiting in order to stay in bed further. Well, that was a reason too, but it was the second one. The first reason was that he didn’t want to talk to Aiba while being in the toilet. He already had him in person in a public toilet the day before, and that was enough for him and his sense of _privacy_. When he came back in his room he saw the notification light on his phone. A new message.

 

**7:10**

**Aiba: SLOTH.**

 

 He remained silent for a few seconds, looking at the message. Then his eyes moved to his bed, where the messy blankets seemed to whisper to him “ _come, it’s still warm_.” He didn’t need to think twice and he rushed back to his bed, holding the phone in his hand. He read the message again and a little pout appeared on his face. Aiba was right, he was a sloth. Yet he turned on the other side, yawning and relaxing, enjoying that nice warmth and closing his eyes.

_“Who cares, sloths are smart in their own ways..”_

 

 

When his phone vibrated Aiba was in the hotel hall. He decided to take the stairs to finish his run and as soon as he arrived in his room he drank half bottle of water. Then he took his phone out of the pocket and read the message. This time he couldn’t help but laughing hard.

 

**7:12**

**Hoshina: Shut up.**

 

He put down the phone on the table without answering him and started to take off his clothes. Once in the bathroom he entered the shower. The water was freezing at first, but then it gradually became warmer and warmer. He loved feeling the difference of temperature on his skin, it relaxed him and got him ready for the day. His mood couldn’t be better. He was still smiling at Hoshina’s answer and he couldn’t hold himself from imaging his friend laying in agony in his bed, forced to listen to him on the phone. He didn’t write him back and he knew that that was the best decision he could take, because if he did he was sure he would have woken him up again.

_“For sure he’ll be asleep by now…”_

 

 

And he was right.

 

* * *

 

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! :)
> 
> Blue


	3. Cherish your team

_Cherish your team_

 

 

“There he is! Man in black!”

As soon as he saw Aiba waving at him and greeting him in that way, Hoshina rolled his eyes and turned around to walk away, wishing he had never accepted to meet that guy again.

“WAIT I WAS JOKING” The young striker ran toward him and grabbed him by a sleeve, forcing the older one to stop.

“I’m sorry, I won’t do that anymore, I PROMISE.” Hoshina sighed, then he turned around again, this time facing the entrance of the stadium. Aiba finally let his sleeve and tried to tidy it a bit. He had grabbed him with such momentum that he had nearly torn up his jacket.

“It’s just that this uniform of yours is so… black…”

Hoshina goggled at him incredulous.

“What do you expect from a _black_ uniform?!”

“I know but your hair is black too and your eyes are dark… I mean, you are all black!” Hoshina slowed down and closed his eyes to isolate himself from everything. And everyone. They hadn’t even sat down yet and that was already too much.

_“Okay Taku. Take a long breath, count to ten and go. You can do it.”_

 

 

“Here we are!” The younger stopped on the stand and with ample gestures he led the introductions. “Hoshina, Ichiboshi, Ichiboshi, Hoshina.” Nice how he introduced a person to a whole team and a whole team to a person as if they were two normal people.

“We already know him.” Niiro asserted without caring too much about his teammate’s efforts.

“And I think he knows us too.” Kamimura added, looking at the guest with a respectful smile.

Hoshina nodded, then both he and the team looked at a speechless Aiba. He was still with his arms open, his fingers pointing at the midfielder and his mouth half open. Then he slowly sat down, his gaze still lost in the space.

“You hooligans!” He grumbled at the end, feeling terribly _useless_. Hoshina looked at him a bit perplexed, then he respectfully greeted Kamimura and the others. Finally he took a seat next to a grumpy Aiba, who some seconds later yawned without even covering his mouth. Kamimura’s slap on his head arrived immediately. The third year was on the point of apologizing to Hoshina for his subordinate’s childish behaviour, yet the other stopped him.

“Sorry, I invited him to play for a bit last night and he came back to the hotel late. I apologise.” Hearing his words Aiba turned to his vice-captain, looking at him with a victorious expression.

“Yet, I agree with the slap. Well done.” Hoshina finished the sentence with a nod in Kamimura’s direction, who in turn gave Aiba a smile of delight. The younger was bewildered by those two. The first whistle echoed in the stadium and he watched the whole first half without deeming them worthy of even a glance.

During the half-time break his teammates headed to the toilets, leaving them alone. When Aiba asked Hoshina if he also needed to go, he shook his head and pierced him with panicked eyes. It was clear that he still hadn’t forgotten the surprise he gave him the day before. Yet their closeness and the absence of the others gave the young striker the chance to pick that recent conversation again. He took a quick breath and slightly hit Hoshina’s arm with the elbow to gain his attention.

“Anyway, I really want to thank you for yesterday, even if you don’t want.”

“It was a pleasure.”

 _“Are you always so cold?”_ He was on the verge of spitting out those words but he managed to keep quiet. Why did he always answer him that way? He didn’t really know. He didn’t even know if that was real coldness. Maybe it was just good manners he had never learnt. Yet showing some more enthusiasm wouldn’t have killed anybody. He was mysterious sometimes. Or maybe just dense. Aiba snorted and averted his gaze. Hoshina felt the distance, which seemed to be the result of frustration and anger mixed together.

“Do you think that I’m making fun of you? It really was a pleasure.”

“Smile then!” Aiba snapped without really meaning it. Before the other could say anything he silenced him with a curt gesture, then he apologised.

“Sorry, forget it. After all that’s the way you are.”

“The way I am?” Hoshina seemed not to understand. He stared at him with furrowed eyebrows, confused. The other tried to find the right word not to offend him.

“…Serious?”

After a few seconds of silence this time it was Hoshina who snorted. Not in the dramatic way Aiba did, yet that was a real snort anyway. In his there wasn’t anger though. There seemed to be a sad resignation. Maybe a hint of anger as well, but Aiba had the impression that it was not addressed to him…but to Hoshina himself. And again he felt like he had just ruined his day, even though he’d tried not to. He thought about saying something, but having seen the results he preferred to shut his mouth and keep silent. He bit his lower lip and thanked his friends for finally coming back.

During the rest of the afternoon they quietly exchanged some comments about the actions, nothing more. When Hoshina got up to leave, Aiba was still resentful about what happened.

 “My brother is waiting, I must go. Thank you very much.” As every good captain would do, Hoshina offered his hand to Kamimura, who shook it with his usual kind smile.

“Kamimura, pass on my greetings to your captain.”

“Sure, thank you.”

“Are you going to play as a professional next year?” Kamimura was surprised by the interest of such a high- calibre midfielder. This time he slightly shrugged his shoulders.

“I have no plans right now… Maybe I might get an offer, who knows.” He spoke the truth, as he didn’t have a clue. He was perfectly aware that his generation was full of midfielders way more talented than him, yet he wouldn’t have disliked playing as a pro for a couple of years.

“But you are, right?” He already knew the answer, but he was trying to keep the conversation going, since talking to him was quite pleasant. Hoshina replied with his usual calmness.

“Yes. I think.”

“Good, then maybe we’ll meet one day.”

“I hope so. It’s a pity that we didn’t meet on the pitch. You really have a strong and nice team. Be proud of it.” While muttering those words Hoshina’s gaze shifted briefly among every Ichiboshi’s member sitting on the stands. When he locked eyes with Aiba though, he lingered a bit more. This time Kamimura didn’t smile, keeping instead a serious expression.  He met the gaze of Touin’s captain for the last time, staring at him intensively. He managed to see in Hoshina’s dark eyes a trace of melancholy. This was how he felt about having to leave a team after having spent a whole life playing in it. And he related to him completely.

“You too.” Two words full of empathy. Hoshina gave him a faint smile as a sign of understanding. Then he bowed respectfully and left them. Kamimura sighed and sat down. Yes, it was a real pity not having played with him.

“He said _I think_ …” Aiba’s voice broke the silence among his teammates.

“What?” Kamimura asked him confused, noticing that the boy was motionless, his gaze lost in the empty space.

“When you asked him if he is going to be a pro next year.. he said yes.. _I think_ …” He was whispering, as if the shock didn’t let him speak properly. Then he turned towards Kamimura, with eyes wide open.

“If a player has a contract ready he doesn’t say _I think_. He says _yes,_ full stop.” Kamimura blinked. He was starting to understand Aiba’s point. Then he gave him the only reply he could think of.

“You said you are his friend, right? Ask him.”

 

 

 

 

**18:40**

**Aiba: you want to take a run? : )**

**Aiba: Tonight, not tomorrow morning. Don’t worry C:**

**18:46**

**Hoshina: yes, why not. 20:30 at your hotel.**

 

“Doesn’t he know that there are such things called emoticons?!?” He wasn’t joking. Aiba was asking himself for real. He was sure that Hoshina was.. happy? pleased? to see him, otherwise he would have politely said no without worrying too much about it. Then why every word of him, even written, had a heavy air of seriousness?

“What’s wrong with him…” He whispered to himself, while replying with a smiley.

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Finally I see you in a running outfit! Should I take a picture or there will be other occasions, what do you think?” Walking out of the hotel Aiba smiled at his friend, who in turn rolled his eyes, staring at the grey sky. According to the forecasts it was supposed to snow again that evening.  

They went to a big park in the centre of the city and began running. Aiba was pleased to discover that Hoshina had a really light and elegant way of running too. There were players who used to run with such heavy strides and he couldn’t stand it. Hoshina had taken that run quite seriously and he kept a steady pace, and Aiba was on his side, focused as well. They couldn’t talk much, yet both of them expressed their satisfaction for Seiseki’s winning and were eager for the finals. This time yet, Aiba didn’t invite him to go watch it together. Something was keeping him from doing that again.

They had been running for a good half hour when the first snowflakes started to fall. Their bodies were warm due to the physical effort, yet the cheeks and nose of both were red because of the low temperature. The air they exhaled turned instantly into little puffs, while the snow was now hindering them from seeing the path properly. It was snowing pretty heavily, as the forecasts had announced. When they reached the park entrance Hoshina stopped, puffing harder while the snowflakes stuck on his jacket. Luckily both of them were wearing winter hats. After a few seconds Aiba began to feel the effects of having stopped running. It was freezing and the striker pulled his jacket around him. Then, suddenly, his whole body shivered visibly, as if he was a mannequin at the epicentre of an earthquake. Hoshina stared at him slightly concerned. The other smiled as if nothing had happened, trying at the same time to keep his teeth from grinding because of the cold.

“A hot drink wouldn’t be bad right now...” Hoshina nodded in agreement. He didn’t show it that openly like Aiba, but he was freezing as well. His hands were particularly suffering. They were always cold, so in winter they could really become a problem sometimes. He puffed one more time, then he tilted his head to show Aiba the direction.

“Follow me, there is a nice café near here.” He was about to begin running again, but Aiba stopped him with a loud - yet shaky - voice.

“W- Wait!” The midfielder turned quickly and looked at him confused, even a bit scared. He saw his friend take a few steps and get closer to him, two big eyes staring at him.

“…What?” He asked with a whisper, not knowing what on Earth he could have done to alarm him so much.

Aiba blinked. He stood at half meter distance and he was completely, utterly lost in the picture he had in front of him. He had noticed it before, but at the beginning he thought it was a mistake. Yet, when Hoshina had told him to follow him, he had seen that again. And now that they were closer, he realised that he wasn’t mistaken at all. Some little snowflakes had landed on Hoshina’s long eyelashes and had remained there, trapped. Little crystals lost in that black ocean, framing his eyes, now incredibly shiny because of the freezing air. And judging from his oblivious look, Hoshina was totally unaware of it. The younger swallowed and blinked again. Now, this was not a matter of sexual preferences or other nonsense. That was a beautiful view and Aiba was sure that any other person, boy or girl, would have thought the same. And, of course, he couldn’t say it.

“Nothing…Let’s go!” And he sprinted ahead, leaving a perplexed Hoshina behind and not even knowing where he was actually going.

 

 

 

The café was quite small and cosy. There were only a few people sitting and chatting at low voice and the atmosphere was warm and intimate. Perfect to bring that topic out, that’s what Aiba thought. They ordered two cups of tea and began to feel their bodies warming up again after the run under the heavy snow. Aiba cleared his voice and was the first one to talk.

“So, Hoshin-”

“You can call me Taku.”

He blinked for an instant. _Taku_. Not even his entire name but his nickname. Had he just gained the key to open the first door leading to a real friendship with him? Who knew.

“Ah. So, Taku… in which team are you going to play next year?” He noticed Hoshina’s fingers silently clenching around the cup.

“Why are you interested?” And his shoulders stiffened too, as if the striker was literally attacking him.

 _“He’s defensive… bad sign.”_ Yet, Aiba tried to sound as natural and enthusiast as possible.

“Because even though you offered me a 1 vs 1 in a dark playground in the middle of the night and I’m really grateful to you for that, I’m still waiting for a real match. A match for us. And since I already have a contract offer but I could still receive new ones, I don’t want to choose the same team as yours. First I want to play _against_ you, then maybe _with_ you in the future!” Hoshina stared at him, then he took the cup of tea and sipped, keeping silent. Then he spoke, his eyes fixed at the hot drink.

“Well, if this is what is worrying you I can’t give you an answer right now.”

“What do you mean?” Aiba asked bewildered, furrowing his eyebrows and tilting his head a bit. He saw him take a long sigh and bite his lip, without lifting his gaze yet. It was the first time that he saw Hoshina so… _insecure_.

“There is no team at the moment.” Finally he lifted his gaze and locked eyes with him. The younger blinked twice and furrowed his eyebrows confused. Hoshina lip-read him while he was repeating his words to himself to fully understand what was going on. A flash of light crossed his eyes, then a perplexed face again. At that point Hoshina interrupted his flow of thoughts, slightly leaning towards him with a serious look. 

“Yes Aiba, you got it right. I don’t have any contract.”

“But…But how? You are in the Top Ten, you must have an offer!!” The younger one was totally shocked.

“Yes, I received it and my contract was ready to be signed. However, participating in the national championship was a requirement. And as you could see yourself, I didn’t participate. Therefore that contract doesn’t exist anymore.”

“B- but you will have received other offers…”

“Yes, I received some of them, but I refused since the negotiations with that club had been going on for months. And now those offers are clearly not for me anymore.” Aiba remained silent, not knowing what to say. He couldn’t believe that something like that could really happen to a good and serious player like Hoshina. He was sorry because he knew that guy deserved that contract, maybe more than many others. And he didn’t accept how a single defeat could wipe out years of commitment and effort. It was not fair at all.

 “I disappointed you, right?” Those words hit him right at the heart. He suddenly lifted his head, only to discover Hoshina looking at him with a bitter smile. He tried to explain, but it was as if his brain couldn’t find the right words.  

“What? N-no you didn-”

“Avoid looking for excuses, I can read it on your face.” Aiba’s eyes opened wide in a painful expression, his mouth still half-open. Hoshina gazed at him in silence, then he slightly nodded his head to himself, as if looking at the younger’s expression was enough to prove the truth of his words.

“I guess it’s pretty bad, right? Considering a person in a certain way only to find out that in reality they are totally different.” This time Aiba replied quickly, willing to put an end to that conversation which was taking the wrong direction. That was too much for him, he didn’t want to hear Hoshina blaming himself anymore. Yet his answer came out weaker than he expected.

“No! You are a talent anyway…” Those words made Hoshina laugh bitterly while shaking his head. Aiba felt somehow hurt.

“To you I’m far better than what I really am. You don’t look at me objectively, I guess. You’ve got a lot of respect for me, but I don’t deserve it. There are plenty of players who are way better than me out there.”

“There will always be someone better than you! But it doesn’t mean that you and I must feel insignificant!” Aiba snapped raising his voice. The few people who were sitting in the café looked at the two for an instant, then everyone continued behaving like before. The younger one bit his lower lip and tried to take a deep breath to calm down.

“Anyway I’m sure you’ll find a club. Yes, I’m sure of that. And in two year time we’ll finally get the match we deserve.” He muttered with low voice, trying to restore the intimacy between them. He also accompanied the last words with a genuine smile to help Hoshina feel better, even though he was broken inside and he had never felt so insecure about the future in his life. The midfielder took a sip of tea, then sighed. His shoulders now were loose, proof that the worst was over. When he finally spoke to the younger one again though, his gaze was a lot more intense than before. And now the subject of the conversation wasn’t him anymore.

“Aiba, I want to tell you something. Now you are thinking and worrying about your future as a professional player, about offers, contracts, the right club to choose, and it’s right. It’s right to think about it because it’s an important decision, without any doubts. But listen to me: don’t focus on your future team. Focus on your present one. Time flies. I’m sure that now you are thinking that you still have a full year ahead… preliminaries, Interhigh, then preliminaries again, Nationals… a lot of matches to play with your teammates and a lot of time. That’s not how it really is.” His lips curved in a little smile, so soft and sad at the same time.

“Touin has represented Tokyo at Interhighs and Nationals 5 times in a row for 3 years. In other words, we were always present. And we were sure that we would have been present also this time, at our last championship. And yet we dreamed so much about it that in the end we didn’t even reach it, we lost earlier. That preliminary final had to be the match that would have brought us at Nationals, but it turned out to be our last match. The _last one_ , Aiba. And we didn’t even realise it.” Aiba listened in silence, not daring to interrupt the older for any reason. He knew that he couldn’t even imagine how difficult was for Hoshina to keep that kind of conversation going.

“This is how my career at Touin reached the end. Six years I played with my teammates, _six years_.  And the end appeared in front of my eyes suddenly, in an instant. And believe me, it breaks your heart.” And Aiba could clearly feel it. He could see it in Hoshina’s eyes, unusually shiny. And he could hear it in his cracked voice. He thought Hoshina was on the verge of burst into tears and _God_ , that would have been the final blow. Yet the midfielder didn’t let a single tear run on his cheeks. He leaned towards to get closer to Aiba and firmly grabbed the younger’s wrist with one hand. He spoke with a sweet and kind tone, a soft and reassuring expression spreading over his face. He spoke to him like a father, locking eyes with him, making sure that he remembered every single word.

“This is why I’m telling you to think about your present. Don’t waste any moment, enjoy your teammates, enjoy every minute in a match, every kick, every dribbling, every goal. Cherish your team, Aiba. Because you never know when the last match will be. And even when that day will come, when you’ll realise it it will be already too late. Cherish your team and don’t hold any regrets. And then you’ll be able to begin your professional career with serenity.” At that point Hoshina let Aiba’s wrist and leaned back on his chair. It turned out that both of them had just gotten emotional.

“And do you have any regret?” Aiba whispered, feeling his eyes incredibly shiny and his voice cracked. Hoshina nodded, staring at the cup of tea and shrugging his shoulders.

“Yes, I do have one. A mistake in middle school. I didn’t trust my best friend. In the match against Seiseki I managed to make peace with myself, let’s say. Yet the feeling of regret remains.” The striker nodded, then both of them remained silent for a couple of minutes, sipping their drinks, lost in their thoughts and emotions.

“Thank you. Really.” Aiba broke the silence with a genuine smile. Hoshina replied with a smile as well, this time looking totally relaxed.

“You know, you said that I’m a talent. You’re a talent as well.” He uttered sincerely. “I already thought it, but last night I had a concrete proof. You are good, really good.”

 

 

“… But you should seriously learn how to accept other people’s compliments without blushing that much…” He added, watching Aiba’s face getting red from the nose to the tip of his ears. The younger mumbled embarrassed and waved his arms with energy, as if he was slowly going back to the normal Miran Aiba everyone knew.

“You are not other _people_! A compliment from you is important to me.” Then he stopped, his arms frozen in the air, shocked by the midfielder’s reaction. “Why are you laughing?”

This time there was no bitterness, no sadness and no regrets in Hoshina’s laughter. This time his smile was genuine too. His usual seriousess? A stranger now. He took a deep breath to calm down, then he replied with two big curious eyes.

“Sometimes I wish I could read your mind to know how things work in that head of yours.”

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! Feel free to drop a comment, if you want! 
> 
> Blue


	4. A 100% Touin disaster

 

 

_A 100% Touin disaster_

  

January, 10th

18:20

Aiba: _sends picture_

18:23

Hoshina: is that Nagasaki?

Aiba: yep! It snowed here too :))

18:24

Hoshina: it looks really nice. Did you have a safe trip?

Aiba: Yeah pretty much. A bit tired anyway tho

Hoshina: I guess it’s natural. Sorry again for not having met you at the train station.

18:25

Aiba: don’t worry! You just owe me a parfait. When you’ll come visit me in Nagasaki we’ll solve this ;)

Hoshina: agreed.

 

 

 

_“Hey Taku.” Aiba stopped in front of the hotel’s entrance and stared at Hoshina._

_“Yes?” He was standing there, his eyes shiny and his cheeks red because of the cold. It didn’t snow that evening, yet the temperatures were still low._

_“Thank you for having spent your time with me during these days. I’m really happy that I’ve got to know you better!”_

_“It was a pleasure.” As soon as those words came out of his mouth, Aiba’s resentful reaction at the stadium brutally appeared in his memory. “Really.” He added quickly with a smile. No, he didn’t want Aiba to snap at him again because of his damned seriousness. And actually, it seemed to Hoshina that this last little gesture had just had the right effect: the younger’s eyes opened wide in astonishment and a big happy smile spread over his lips. To the midfielder that was quite an exaggerated reaction, yet he could feel the meaning it had for Aiba._

_“Say, Taku” The guy took a few steps toward him, making the automatic doors finally close behind him._

_“Have you ever been to Nagasaki?” Aiba could clearly see how that question completely stunned Hoshina. He noticed his eyes blinking twice, as if his brain was trying to link the word “Nagasaki” to some sort of concept or image in his memory. He tried not to burst into laughter because it wouldn’t have been very nice.  It was so funny when Hoshina’s mind suddenly went blank sometimes._

_“No I haven’t… Why?”_

_“Well, if you want you can come visit me! When you’ll have a free weekend and you’ll be bored here in this big city and you’ll feel the urge to spend some time with a particularly nice and funny guy. That is me of course, if you didn’t get.” He finished with a boastful smile, slowly moving around to give the impression of a handsome and cool man. Hoshina raised an eyebrow, slightly smiling back._

_“Sure, why not.”_

_This time Aiba replied with a pure and gentle smile. “As you’ve taken care of me here in Tokyo I’ll take care of you in Nagasaki! Hoping that the weather will be nicer…”Hoshina’s gaze softened and he stretched a hand to reach him._

_“Good. Then see you in Nagasaki, Aiba.” The striker grabbed it cheerfully, greeting him back and wishing the best for him._

_“Yeah! Bye Taku, and thank you again!”_

_He watched the midfielder walk away and when his eyes couldn’t follow his back anymore he stepped in the hotel happy and ready to go back home._

 

 

January, 18th

21:29

Aiba: school has started like just a few days ago and I’m already exhausted

Aiba: like really exhausted. 100% exhausted. No, more. 120% or 135%

23:51

Hoshina: how can you quantify your exhaustion so well?

January, 19th

7:32

Aiba: JESUS TAKU

Aiba: is that the time to answer?! I was already sleeping!!

Aiba: anyway I can do that bc I feel exhausted quite often so I know that feeling well enough to quantify it!

7:46

Hoshina: sorry, I had extra classes and I came home late.

Hoshina: so you must have very busy days too.

7:55

Aiba: sure I do! Like today..

Hoshina: why, what do you have today?

7:56

Aiba: classes, training with the team and the dentist!

12:34

Hoshina: and that’s…all?

12:36

Aiba: yeah!! Why, what do you have today?

Hoshina: classes, extra science class, training with my team, a meeting about college admission and evening joint training with the college team.

12:42

Aiba: WHAT?!?!

Aiba: and in all this.. do you have like.. time to breathe?

12:45

Hoshina: not always.

Aiba: I WAS EXPECTING THIS ANSWER

Aiba: damn Taku, you’ve just become my new hero!

 

17:45

Aiba: training went well, going to the dentist now. Are you still alive?

18:57

Aiba: …Taku?

20:30

Aiba: I guess you are not. I’m in the Top 9 now!!! :D

22:01

Aiba: aaaalright, going to sleep! At least it’s something I can do, unlike you…

Aiba: or maybe you are already sleeping…

Aiba: ..like.. for eternity?

Aiba: never mind, goodnight!

 

January, 20th 

 

01:30

Hoshina: Aiba

Hoshina: what do you think my level of exhaustion could be right now? I’d be curious to learn that.

01:31

Aiba: HOLY SHIT TAKU

Hoshina: oh

Hoshina: are you still awake?

Aiba: I forgo t to turn ff the ringtone

Aiba: damn I GOT SCARED

Hoshina: oh, sorry. Well, you don’t have to answer me now.

01:32

Aiba: BUT I’M AWAKE NOW

Aiba: oi

Aiba: dn’t tell me u’ve just come home

Hoshina: actually no. I came back at 00:30. Took a long shower and had dinner.

01:33

Aiba: U MAD?!! DINNER AT MIDNIGHT?!?

Hoshina: well, I usually don’t eat before training

Aiba: u are

Aiba: I don’t even know

01:34

Aiba: anyway, if my level of exhaustion today was 110% then yours would be

Aiba: smt like.. 360%?

Hoshina: 360?

01:35

Aiba: yeah

Aiba: 360 or 370 approximately

Hoshina: good. Thank you.

Hoshina: sorry but my eyes are literally closing. Talk to you tomorrow, goodnight!

Aiba: of course they are!

01:36

Aiba: hey, don’t text me if you don’t have time! I prefer talking to you during the weekend rather than during school days at this time! ‘night man!

01:40

Aiba: also, now I understand why you don’t run in the morning.. sorry for having called you sloth!

Aiba: (lol)

 

 

 

 

 

February, 15th

“So this is the plan, alright?”

“Sup senpai!”

“Do you really have the courage to call it a plan?!”

“We have been thinking about it for days, so yes, it’s worth to be called a plan!

“YOU have been thinking about it!”

“Shhhh, don’t be loud or he’ll hear us!”

 

There they were. Standing in circle, close to each other like the members of a sect, whispering like three gossiping old women.

On the pitch. During training. While Hoshina was on the third set of drills while they hadn’t even started.

Yes, because Kaidou wanted to check one last time if his two allies had the plan clear in their heads. As for Atomu, no problem at all. A devoted disciple, a trusted soldier. A little bit too excited, but ready to take action. As for Ura, there was still a doubtful expression on his face, yet Kaidou was sure that he had understood the various steps of his plan.

Actually, they weren’t that many. Step one: distract Hoshina. Step two: run into the locker room. Step three: take their captain’s phone and finally discover who he had been texting for the last month.

“Okay, so Atomu, you’ll be the sentinel. Ura, you’ll send him somewhere for a task and then stay with me in the locker room. And I’ll-”

“HURRY UP YOU THREE PENGUINS!!!!!!!! OR I’LL MAKE YOU STAY HERE DOING DRILLS UNTIL THE SUN RISES UP TOMORROW MORNING!!!!”

The coach’s voice boomed throughout the pitch. Atomu let out a scream and grabbed Kaidou’s arm like a koala.

“Sorry coach!” Ura bowed and ran straight to the end line of the pitch to begin the drills. _Oh, he was so diligent._

“…Penguins?!?” Kaidou, on the contrary, was still there, with an eyebrow raised, questioning the coach’s choice of the day. In fact, Touin’s coach had always had the strange habit of calling his young players in the most various and awkward ways, especially when he got angry at them for some reason: from hopeless hippos to donkeys, from couch potatoes to smashed potatoes (yes, smashed), from psychedelic mushrooms to pine cones rolling on the pitch. In those six years Kaidou had heard the most impossible options, yet penguins was a new one. The coach’s intimidating roar eventually made the two start the training as well, while on the other side of the field a perplexed Hoshina was still looking at them, trying to figure out what on earth they were doing.

 

 

 

“Okay guys, this is the end for today!” The coach clapped his hands twice to get the player’s attention, he gave a few comments to the freshmen and let everyone go. As Kaidou, Ura and Atomu walked by with pious expressions, he glared at them menacingly, yet that day he had mercy upon them.

After a few steps the three exchanged a quick glance and a few nods. The plan had started. They entered the locker room as if nothing was different, except for the fact that they did everything extremely slowly this time. Slow showers, slow change of clothes, even the conversations seemed to be slower. And Hoshina was there, interacting with them, totally oblivious.

“Oh gosh, Taku! I forgot!” Ura suddenly approached the captain, face-palming himself, while an unconvinced Hoshina replied to him.

“What?”

“Do you remember the English essay? As we came here to train I met the teacher and she asked me to tell you to go to her office after training. I think she wants to let you know how you did it!”

“And why can’t I go tom-”

“How am I supposed to know? She wants to see you now! Go! You still have time.” Hoshina stared at him full of doubts, then he decided to listen to - and trust - his friend and he headed towards the door.

“I’m leaving my stuff here.”

“Yes! Don’t worry!” The three guys replied at the same time with an innocent expression printed on their faces.

Step one - done. It was time to get down to business.

“Atomu, you’ll stay out in the corridor. You’ll be the sentinel. If Hoshina comes, try to distract him and keep him outside!” The freshman nodded, but then blocked Kaidou with a decisive voice.

“Wait senpai! What if I need to defend myself?” Kaidou’s mouth remained half open for a few seconds, while his hamster in the brain was running faster than usual. Damn, Atomu was right. What if somebody other than Hoshina came? What if he had to fight? He couldn’t let his precious disciple get hurt in a battle! And so he took the first thing his eyes set on: a mop.

“Take it. And now go. Be ready to fight for our cause!” Hearing his senpai’s heroic speech, Atomu’s eyes sparkled. He straightened his back, stomach in chest out, with the mop standing next to him like a spear. After giving a salute he proudly answered “Yes senpai!” and went out, leaving the two third-years in the locker room alone. A satisfied Kaidou and a speechless Ura, now having to join their forces to accomplish their mission.

“Sooo, let’s have a look…” Kaidou whispered, while he opened Hoshina’s bag. He knew that it wasn’t a good thing to do, especially to Hoshina. Not only because this is not how you are supposed to behave towards your best friend. In addition to that, a lawful guy like him would have never broken the rules and snooped around other’s privacy like that. But they needed to know. They wanted to know. Since the end of the Nationals their captain had been texting more often than usual with a person with no name and no face. A ghost, a spirit, maybe an alien coming from another planet (this was Atomu’s suggestion). And the thing was, since he didn’t use to talk to anybody else outside the team or classmates, this strange phenomenon had ended up being in the spotlight since the beginning. And looking at how he tried to reply or text as soon as he had a few minutes free, instead of just drinking something or relaxing, this someone had to be a quite _interesting_ one to him.

 

 

 

“Excuse me, are you looking for someone?” A lady working at the secretary office stopped Hoshina, who was indeed looking for his teacher. However, as soon as he told the name to the lady, she blinked twice, surprised.

“She left right after lunch because she had to drive her daughter to a medical visit. Are you sure she said to meet precisely at his hour?”

No, Hoshina wasn’t sure at all. Then, while he kindly bowed and thanked her, his mind started to put together the pieces of the puzzle. Now that he thought about it, quite a few things didn’t seem right to him that day. Those three whispering far away from the others, the coach yelling at them (well, that was quite usual actually) and then those long showers and those useless conversations about whether a boiled egg can somehow go back to raw, according to some sort of reversible principle of physics. And while he was still thinking about this, his legs began moving faster, soon running instead of walking. They had sent him there on purpose. They were hiding him something.

 

 

 

“Here we go.” Kaidou was now holding Taku’s phone. A little shiver ran along his spine. Then, with a slight pressure of his finger he simply unlocked it. Of course, since Hoshina had never used any key number or password. Why? Because he was a good guy who had nothing to hide. Or so he thought.

“Go on WhatsApp and hurry up.” Ura said quickly. He was a little anxious, as if his sixth sense was telling him that things were going to get problematic. His friend nodded and he touched the app’s icon. They were in, yet the result wasn’t satisfying.

“…Seiya…Mum…Ura…What the hell, where is the girl?!?!?” They were scrolling, but no female name appeared.

“Uh! There’s a Hoshiko!” Ura pointed at the name, but Kaidou shook his head in disappointment.

“That’s her cousin. No threat there.” Ura blinked.

“So that’s… Hoshiko Hoshina?”

“Yes.”

“… It sounds weird, right?” As he was still deep in thought, Kaidou tilted his head and narrowed his eyes.

“Now that you pointed it out… I must agree with you…” Then both of them started thinking the issue through, without realising that they were wasting crucial seconds.

“I don’t know, there is something weird…”

“Yeah…Oh!” Kaidou’s eyes sparkled and he snapped his fingers, “Maybe there is too much.. like.. _hoshihoshi_?” Also Ura opened his mouth as if they had just discovered the key to all the problems in the world.

“Exactly! There’s a lot of _hoshihoshi_ in it!!” The two exchanged a victorious look, both satisfied of the solution they’d just come up with. After that Kaidou began mumbling about how lucky their friend was, having such a nice name like Takumi.

“It’s so sweet, so peaceful, right? Really, our capt-”

“C-CAPTAIN! ALREADY HERE?!” Atomu’s voice from the corridor prevailed on his and made them jump on the bench.

“Hoshiiiit!!!” Ura hissed, panicking.

“No fear man, we still have time!” Kaidou muttered, trying to slow down his heart pace, “We have sentinel Atomu outside.”

“Honestly, Kaidou…” Ura took a deep breath and looked at him, “This doesn’t help.”

 

 

 

“Atomu… What are you doing?” Hoshina was standing there, observing his freshman moving that poor old mop around with vigorous - and pointless - gestures.

“What, don’t you see? I’m mopping!” Atomu smiled in the attempt to convince him, yet looking at the captain’ plain expression he had the feeling he’d just failed.

“Mopping…” The older muttered with low voice, slowly following the wild movements that mop was taking thanks to the creative hands that were holding it. “Alright.” He took a step further in order to reach the door, but as soon as he did it the goalkeeper trod on his toes with the mop, raising a hand up in the air and muttering a loud “Halt!!”

“Ouch! What the hell Atomu!” A slightly bothered expression was appearing on Hoshina’s face. And this scared the freshman like hell.

“S-Sorry captain! But I’ve just mopped there!” He mumbled softly, looking at him with a hangdog expression.

“It’s not even wet, Atomu.” And there the younger stopped moving the mop, completely petrified and confused by that last statement.

 _“…Wet?”_ He thought to himself, trying to understand what in his calculation went wrong.

“Atomu…” Hoshina sighed, visibly annoyed, “Have you ever used a mop?”

“Uhh…”

“Don’t you know that you need water as well?”

 _“Crap.”_ He caught him. But what could he do? It was not his fault if he hadn’t seriously used that thing yet!

“B-but of course I know! Haha!!” And he started mopping again, torturing that poor tool, whose old wooden stick was slightly cracking due to the brutal force used. “I’m just mopping up dust!”

“Then I can walk, can’t I?” A sly smile appeared on Hoshina’s lips and he started walking without a word coming from Atomu. Yet the freshman was aware that he couldn’t let him enter the locker room like that.

 _“Take it. And now go. Be ready to fight for our cause!”_ His senpai’s words echoed in his head powerfully. Yes, he had to fight. And he was ready.

“WATAAAH!!!” With a sudden jump Atomu barred the entrance and raised the mop up horizontally, like a warrior.

“Atomu WHAT THE HELL.” Hoshina was seriously exasperated now. He didn’t care anymore about what Ura and Kaidou were doing inside that freaking room, he just wanted to grab his things and go to the dormitory.

“Have you ever tried any type of martial arts?” The goalkeeper asked with a cheerful voice, blocking every attempt of his superior at reaching the door.

“No Atomu, but I know how to break bones, trust me.” No, actually he had no idea of how he could break people’s bones, because he would never do something like that. He wasn’t even able to kill a mosquito, how on earth could he break a bone?!? And yet he could see his freshman’s legs shake. Poor Atomu, it was crystal-clear that he had gotten caught in something bigger than him. And Hoshina could perfectly imagine who had set up the whole thing.

 

 

 

“Kaidou put that phone away for God’s sake!” Ura was seriously on the verge of beating the crap out of his friend.

“Wait, there must be a name!” Despite the strange sounds that came from the corridor, he was still there, now checking the contact list to see if there was a new female contact at least there. “Crap, there is noth-”

“WEEEE HAAA!!!”A new scream echoed in the corridor, making their hearts skip a beat.

“What the hell is going on out there?!?” Ura stared at the closed door, trying to figure out what the situation looked like on the other side, miserably failing. In the meanwhile, Kaidou began to think that maybe the mop wasn’t the right thing to hand to Atomu.

 

 

 

“A T O M U.” Hoshina had just dodged the new attack and he didn’t know whether to laugh or to kill him. This time the goalkeeper had opted for a more musketeer-like attack, fending the air with the mop as if it was a blade, holding it by the end of the stick so that the disgusting dirty strings could injure the captain, also with the help of the microbes piled up in there.

The two exchanged devilish glares, standing one in front of the other. Only the one-meter mop kept them at distance, suffering more than all the other parts involved in the fight. They knew it: the next one would have been the last one. After that the winner would have been decided: the oblivious right, or the psychopath cleaner?

“FFFUUUUUU-” Atomu raised the mop way above his head, ready to smash it on the captain’s head like a hammer on a nail. However, Hoshina figured out the trajectory the mop would have taken and leaped on the side to dodge it, just one millisecond before the freshman brutally threw it.

“-TOOOOO-”

“YOU TURNIP CABBAG-” 

 

 

“Oi…” Ura mumbled, his vocal chords having a hard time producing comprehensible sounds. “Wasn’t that right now the coach’s voice?”

 

 

Hoshina hadn’t been able to react immediately. His eyes had just watched the scene in slow-motion, while his body was still moving to dodge the mop. Mop that in the end didn’t him.

No.

It hit the coach.

And not only that. As soon as it reached his head, the stick, already cracked, eventually broke.

One piece remained in the hands of a deathly-pale Atomu. A second piece, with the coarse strings attached to it, flew over the coach’s head and beyond, finally tasting the long-desired freedom.

And Hoshina was still there, memorizing every millisecond of that unique moment of his life: the coach’s mouth wide open, still focused on pronouncing the words “turnip cabbage”, his raging voice a prelude to a future of fire and fury. His eyes shut, while the stick’s blow parted his hair in the middle and the mop’s strings flew behind him like a cascade. And Atomu, _oh_ _Atomu_ : standing there, not being able to realise what was going on, his eyes wide open in shock, his mouth still open in a rounded shape and his voice still loud but already trembling, like a Tarzan’s scream.

“OOOOOH MMY GOOOOOD!!!” He shouted in the end, finally realising the catastrophe he had just caused.

 

Yet, if outside the locker room the tragedy was already taking place, inside the room another one was on the verge of occurring.

“Holy crap!” Kaidou hissed, grabbing Ura’s shoulder and endlessly repeating what apparently was the sad reality, “He hit the coach instead of Taku, he hit the coach Ura, HE HIT THE COACH!!!”

“WE ARE GONNA DIE.” His friend was jumping on the place out of anxiety. And he was totally right, since they had no exit but for that same door that Atomu had defended so proudly. Yes, _until the moment he’d nearly killed their coach._

“There must be a way!” Kaidou started walking up and down the locker room, while clenching his hands around Hoshina’s phone, still open on the contact list.

“No there is no way! We are all gonna get suspended from the team!!!” Ura ran towards him while the other, hearing his words, left an exasperated and terrified whine.

“DON’T SAY THAT.” And they ended up in a movie-like hug, every now and then letting out little shrieks.

And in that moment, a voice suddenly came out of Kaidou’s hands. A _screeching_ voice, like a witch’s voice. A satanic voice addressed not to them, but to Hoshina.

_“Oooh hello, Taku! How is my favourite dumpling?”_

The scream let out by Kaidou could have probably broken a shop window. If Atomu’s shout before seemed quite a powerful one, after this one Kaidou could have been hired by a Hollywood studio for the next horror movie.

However, if Kaidou screamed like there was no tomorrow, Ura on the contrary remained silent. The voice scared him so much to death that his brain momentarily forgot how to produce any type of sound and the only reaction his body had was that of wildly leaping backwards, his eyes awfully wide open, as if trying to escape from the devil ready to possess him. And he leaped so much backwards that his legs eventually reached the bench and, not being able to stop, he fell back hard, ending up stuck between the said bench and the lockers. Nonetheless, he was so shocked that he didn’t even feel the pain.

In that moment the door opened and Hoshina finally appeared. And as soon as he saw his phone in the air, he turned to stone.

Yes, because Kaidou had got so frightened to death the exact second the voice echoed in the room that he’d instinctively thrown the phone up in the air. And while the phone was still flying, the call was still on. Because, evidently, that was a call.

_“Taku? Darling? I can’t hear you!”_

A call to a contact selected by Kaidou’s clenching fingers by mistake and out of fear. A call to a person who was leagues and leagues apart from Satan or any sort of witch.

“Grandma?!” Taku cried out incredulous, finally recognising the voice at the other end of the call and taking a huge leap forward in the attempt to catch the phone.

_“Dumpling?”_

That was the last word that could be heard. Then the phone crashed on the floor, the sound of breaking glass mercilessly following the first thud. Just one second later Hoshina’s hand reached the device, already on its journey to the smartphones’ heaven. The midfielder rested his forehead on the cold floor for a few instants. Then, two furious eyes rose from the floor and pierced Kaidou, who was standing in front of him one meter away, his hands still up in the air, like a statue.

 _Shit_. He was pissed off, he was _seriously_ pissed off this time.

“I-” The striker swallowed and opened his mouth slowly, whispering and already begging for mercy, “I can explain!”

In that moment it seemed to him that Hoshina’s eyes had just caught fire. He was so angry that he didn’t even open his mouth properly to speak, he just ground his teeth.

“You what-”

“YOU DAMNED CRACKED MOOOOOPS!!!!!!!!” Together with the mad voice Atomu appeared too. With the eyes of a possessed man, the freshman rushed into the locker room, weaving as he walked and nearly stepping on Hoshina. After a few seconds the coach eventually walked in, wildly waving the broken mop in the air, with the strings flying back and forth. He stopped near the door, observing the tragic situation inside the room with a nervous tic below the eye. There they were, his beloved mops: a bald one turned into a statue and stuck between the bench and the lockers, another one standing at the centre, still traumatised by the screeching voice of a poor grandma, another young idiot who nearly caused him a concussion while screaming “ _fuuutoooh_ ” and other nonsense and to finish, there, the captain of the whole team lying on the floor, looking intensely at his dead phone as if his long eyelashes could bring it back to life.

Touin the powerhouse? Touin the kings? Oh no. The right definition was _Touin the idiots_.

 

 

 

 

 

 

21:30

Hoshina: Hey

Hoshina: Are you busy?

21:34

Aiba: Hey! Nope, I’ve just switched on the tv :)

Hoshina: good

Hoshina: I’ve been suspended from the team for 3 days today

21:35

Aiba: you

Aiba: YOU

Aiba: YOU WHAT

Hoshina: sit down, I’m going to tell you a funny story.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


	5. Interest

 

  

February, 16th

 

As soon as he reached the bench, Aiba sat down, grabbed the bottle of water and began drinking it as if he had just spent one week in the desert. Instead, he was just at the end of the intensive training that Ichiboshi used to have at least once a week, even in dead periods between one championship and the other. He could clearly feel his muscles heavier than usual. Maybe he even had a bit of lactic acid that day, considering the light pain, yet that was a kind of pain he didn’t dislike. No, he wasn’t a masochist, he simply knew that the pain he felt was the proof of his physical activity and that his body was getting fitter day after day. And no, he didn’t care about being all muscles and appearance. He cared about being healthy and fit in order to run on the pitch as much as it was needed and play soccer well, like the Top Ten player he was.

“Alright guys, you did well today!” Coach Nanbu gave a high five to Niiro and Chinen, smiling with satisfaction, “I’m proud of you!”

Aiba noticed Oku and Kamimura exchanging a perplexed look, ending up smiling at the compliments of their coach. Actually, since the end of the Nationals he had been behaving differently with the team, showing more affection, from a _financial_ point of view as well. In fact, the whole team was shocked when one week before he treated them to pizza, offering even a parfait to Aiba as dessert. The second-year couldn’t help but smile too, yet in the moment his gaze focused on his coach, his mind tricked him badly. The images of Hoshina’s first-year teammate breaking the mop on their coach’s head suddenly appeared in front of his eyes, overlapping with the innocent and smiling face of Coach Nanbu, who was standing right in front of him. The result was a burst into laughter with no apparent reason. The whole team turned in his direction and he had to stop against his will, trying to hide his laughter with some coughing.

“Sorry,” He mumbled, “I was thinking about something funny..”

And in that precise instant he wished he had his phone right there, to see if Hoshina had answered him.

 _“Damn, I forgot to tell him I was starting practice..”_ Maybe he had replied to him like five minutes after having received his text, and now he had been waiting for two hours, and with no response. What were they talking about? Oh yes, about why his friends wanted to peep into his phone at all costs. Hoshina had told him the whole story but didn’t give him details about the reason. And thinking about the interesting answer waiting for him on his phone screen made him want to rush into the locker room before anyone else. Despite that, he was able to wait ten more minutes, just to listen to the last coach’s comments and piece of advice and walk into the locker room together with his teammates. However, as soon as he reached the bench where his training bag lied, he grabbed it like a beast with a prey and he took the phone.

_12 messages, 4 chats_

“WHAT THE HELL.” He grumbled, getting Kamimura’s attention, who was standing next to him. God, why did so many people always look for him? He had asked for _one_ precise message, not a thousand chats. Well, they were just four actually, but still they made him even more anxious, because now his eyes had to literally search for _his_ name and the fact that he had four chats gave him hope. And what if he hadn’t replied yet?! Disappointment, terrible disappointment. He unlocked the phone and touched on the notifications bar to see the names: _Ichiboshi wondermen, Mum, Dad_ (probably asking him the same thing again despite living under the same roof) and, thank God, _Hoshina_. To be honest he wanted to rename it “Taku”, since it gave him a less serious impression, yet he wasn’t 100% sure yet. He didn’t know whether he was in the position to do so already or not. A slight smile appeared on his face as he opened the chat trembling with curiosity, but what he read left him somewhat speechless.

17:26

Hoshina: oh I didn’t tell you

Hoshina: well basically they had noticed that I have been texting more than I usually do, so they wanted to know who was the person I text with, thinking that it would have been a girl I was interested in…probably this is why they didn’t just ask me to tell them. And actually that person was you.

 

He blinked twice and read the message again to be sure that he didn’t misunderstand. The he started typing slowly, as if he didn’t know yet how to properly formulate the question. The he sent the reply, still looking quite confused.

17:29

Aiba: so…like… they exchanged me for your love interest?

 

“Who is it?” Kamimura tilted his head toward him with a foxy smile and Aiba had the impression his teammate was having the exact same reaction to his texting as Hoshina’s friends.

“It’s just a friend.” He answered without even looking at him, while he put down the phone and took off his shirt.

“Don’t worry, I don’t want the details.” The third year muttered with fake disinterest, closing his eyes and showing a cunning smile. Aiba stared at him bewildered. Kamimura didn’t believe him!

“It’s Hoshina.”

And there it was, that sudden disoriented expression with a veil of surprise, and two blinking eyes now glaring at him in silence. Then, the famous “ _Oh_..” everyone says when the answer they receive is _not_ what they had imagined.

“So you kept in touch with him?” Kamimura asked, this time with real interest. Aiba nodded, then he headed to the showers. Yet, after a couple of steps he stopped and turned around in the senpai’s direction with an amused and victorious expression.

“Don’t worry senpai, if you want the details, feel free to ask!”

Kamimura watched his subordinate jump towards the showers and laughed, slightly shaking his head. Yes, he was surprised. He knew that the two had met again in Tokyo before going back to Nagasaki, but he couldn’t imagine that Hoshina was the one at the other end of the conversation. It happened sometimes that a girl was able to snatch his phone number from someone at school and texted him, hoping for a happy ending. However, the ending was always the same: “No thank you”, “I don’t have time”, “WHO ARE YOU?!” - during bad days - , “I’m sorry but I’m not interested” - during good days. Anyway, the answer was _No_. For this reason watching Aiba grab his phone quickly and glue his eyes on the screen was something unusual. Well, to tell the truth there were indeed times when he locked eyes with the phone, but only to watch stupid videos on the web. Let’s say that the amount of _interest_ was unexpected and peculiar. He took the towel and closed the bag. In that moment he saw with the corner of his eye Aiba’s phone lighting up with a new notification from WhatsApp. Since it was only one chat, the name was there. Kamimura gave up to curiosity and leaned toward the smartphone.

 _Hoshina_.

In that moment the screen darkened and Kamimura finally headed to the shower, smiling.

_“So you really weren’t bluffing, were you?”_

 

 

 

17:32

Hoshina: yes, you can say so

18:06

Aiba: and their reaction???

18:12

Hoshina: a bit disappointed...

18:13

Aiba: HOW

Aiba: I mean

Aiba: have you ever met a girl nicer than me? _;)_

18:15

Hoshina: …I don’t think this comparison could work

Aiba: WHY

Aiba: in the end being nice doesn’t depend on gender!

Hoshina: well, I guess girls and boys are nice in different ways

18:16

Aiba: you guess?

Hoshina: well yes, I can’t be sure

18:17

Aiba: well let me tell you one thing

Aiba: I am nicer

Aiba: trust me

Aiba: so your friends should only feel relieved and happy that you are texting with me and not with some harpy ready to rip you apart

Aiba: I am nicer and I am definitely safer.

18:20

Hoshina: if you say so…

 

“So how is he?” Kamimura asked as they walked. Since they the same road to get home, they used to go together for a bit. At that question Aiba couldn’t help but laugh, ready to tell his trusted senpai the latest news from Tokyo’s powerhouse school.

“Oh, he’s very good indeed, he’s just got suspended from the team for three days!”

 

 

 

February, 17th

Hoshina entered the classroom and laughed internally at the scene that welcomed him. Ura and Kaidou were already sitting at their desks, low-spirited and with their gazes fixed at the books opened in front of them. He walked slowly, enjoying how both of them occasionally lifted their eyes toward him and stared at him with a hangdog expression. However, he kept silence. He sat down and opened his book as well, not deeming his teammates of even a glance. They had to pay for what they had done to him. And thinking about it, Hoshina was reminded of his broken smartphone, passed away at the young age of three months, now waiting to be revived thanks to the one-year warranty. So he took his “new” phone out the bag, aware of the two dejected glares addressed at him, and with an ample gesture he laid it on the desk, pretending to make sure the sound was off. Kaidou and Ura quickly looked over there. The phone their captain was now using was his three-year-old one, one of the first smartphone models. Nothing compared to the nice clean-white iPhone he had received for Christmas and used until the day before. It was dark grey, with dented angles and a crack that crossed the screen, yet it was still usable. Not like the iPhone, whose screen had literally disintegrated.

“So!” Kaidou turned on his chair to face him, forcedly smiling at him and clapping his hands, “The day after tomorrow we’ll be back on the pitch! Aren’t you happy?”

That attempt to start a conversation failed miserably. Hoshina didn’t even need to use words to make his answer clear. He stared at him with a cold, emotionless look while drumming his fingers on the table at a slow, heavy rhythm. His lips were perfectly horizontal, his neck just barely turned in his friend’s direction. In that instant the teacher came in and Kaidou had to go back to his normal posture. In the meanwhile, Ura, who sat right in front of the midfielder, sighed. The captain saw the shoulders of both hunched in humiliation and he had to hide a smile.

The truth was that he was having too much fun.

 

 

 

As soon as the bell rang Hoshina stood up to go to the cafeteria, but two arms blocked him and forced him to sit down again. And they did that with such momentum that he was about to fall from the chair.

“WHERE DO YOU THINK YOU ARE GOING?!?” Kaidou and Ura shouted at the same time, both leaning on the table to watch him closer. Then, when some of their classmates had left the room, both fell suddenly on their knees and with jointed hands and a fake cracked voice started begging him for mercy.

“Please Taku forgive us!”

“WE ARE SORRY.”

“We had no idea things would have taken this turn!”

“We just wanted to know!”

“SORRY.”

“PLEASE TALK TO US.”

Hoshina had to concentrate really hard to keep his stone face. He had never seen any of them begging him in that way. It was clear that they were aware of the big trouble they had caused. He rolled his eyes and, finally, replied.

With a lethal look and the one-billion-dollar question.

“WHY-DIDN’T-YOU-JUST-ASK-ME.”

“Because we thought you wouldn’t answer us!” Ura answered straight away with innocence, as if he expected this question.

“Because we thought it was a private matter and we know that you care about privacy!” Kaidou mumbled, still on his knees, resting his hands on the edge of the desk like the paws of a kitten begging for food. Hearing those words Hoshina pierced him with two bloodshot eyes, on the verge of killing him on the spot.

“E X A C T L Y.”

Now Kaidou was so little and balled up that he could actually hide under the table.

“We saw that you seemed so interested and committed that we thought there was some romance!” Ura added from his little angle.

“But with WHO???”

“We don’t know, that’s why we wanted to find out!”

“Well, we had a theory actually!” Kaidou whispered, getting his friend’s attention one more time. Hoshina raised an eyebrow and leaned toward him with a sly smile.

“Oh really? Tell me, I’m all ears.”

At that point Kaidou’s words were so mumbled that nobody understood what he said.

“Excuse me?”

 _Then he exploded_.

“SEISEKI’S MANAGER!”

“Oh Jesus, _again_.” Hoshina rolled his eyes, exasperated, “I’m going to tell you this once and for all: there is _nothing_ going on with her.”

“But-”

“FULL STOP.” He pointed at both of them with his finger, this time with a real menacing glare. It wasn’t the first time they brought up the subject. _But she is cute! So you have her number now! So you met her by chance yesterday? How did it go? She likes soccer! Give it a try!_ Just how many times had he heard those same sentences, coming up again and again like a loop? Ok, Ubukata was a nice girl, yes. She liked soccer too, yes. And yes, she was cute. But this didn’t change the fact that they had always been just friends and will always remain friends. Just because a girl was cute was he supposed to ask her out and begin a relationship with her?? Hoshina didn’t think so. And so every now and then he had to make sure his friends understood that as well. However, that time was the last one. He was seriously getting sick and tired of this whole story.

And it seemed to him that Ura and Kaidou had finally got the message.

“So…” Kaidou’s head popped out of the desk, “It was just the Ichiboshi guy you were texting with?”

“Yes, Kai, it was just him.” Hoshina replied as serious as ever, yet there was something that annoyed him. “And by the way, what the hell does it mean that I was _so interested_ and _so committed_?! Can’t I be interested in texting with a friend? That’s exactly the same thing I would do if you guys didn't study here at Touin or live in Tokyo.” Yes, it was that “ _interested_ ” what pissed him off. Did someone have to be interested just in romance?!?

“Taku we didn’t mean this-” Ura tried to explain, but Hoshina was now overflowing with disappointment.

“Now we go to school together and play in the same team, so we can talk every time we want, but in a couple of weeks you two are going to college and only God knows where _I_ will end up playing, probably not in Tokyo, so what will you do when I’ll leave?? Will you just forget about me?!”

“How can you even think about something like that? Of course not!!!” Kaidou muttered, visibly hurt by his friend’s words.

“Then what will you do? You’ll text me, right? And will you just send me a message and then think _oh, well, if he answers okay, if not who cares_?”

“Of course not! We both would wait for your reply and be happy to receive it!” It was Ura’s turn this time, who in the meanwhile had sat down on his chair.

“See? And that’s exactly what I’m doing with Aiba!” Hoshina argued in the end, hoping that his two interlocutors had finally understood his point, “I’m just being a friend…” He calmed down, his voice was now softening, “I just can’t talk to him like I talk to you and the rest of my friends, who are here… it’s not interest, it’s a simple friendship. At least this is how I consider a friendship. That’s all.”

Silence fell around them. They were all looking somewhere down on the table or on the floor, thinking about Hoshina’s last words. Suddenly Kaidou felt like an idiot. He raised his gaze to look at his best friend. And damn, how _lucky_ he was to have a best friend like him.

“I’m sorry Taku,” he whispered, sincerely regretful and impressed, “we made a mistake, _I_ made a mistake. We get it now. Sorry.”

“Sorry Taku.” Ura added his apologies, staring at him with a miserable look.

Hoshina sighed. Well, what could he do now?

“C’mon, let’s go to the cafeteria, otherwise we won’t eat anything.” He stood up and with a little genuine smile he encouraged his two friends to follow him. Ura and Kaidou stared at each other for a few seconds, completely stunned. Then Ura left his chair with a sprint, reaching Hoshina in an instant. Kaidou, who was still balled up and nearly sitting on the floor, did the same.

Or at least he tried.

 _Crick_.

Because his back didn’t let him to.

“OUCH” There he was, leaning against the table, half bent, with the back and legs as rigid as the ones of a 80-year-old oldie and a pained expression on his face.

“That’s what you get for not minding your own business!” Hoshina exclaimed before leaving the classroom, closely followed by Ura and his hearty laugh.

“You…YOU…YOU DAMNED MOPS!” Hearing his final comment, directly inspired by their coach’s one of the evening before, the two burst into laughter.

“Oh yeah, talking about mops,” Hoshina slowed his pace, giving Kaidou the time to join them, then asked out of curiosity, “where is Atomu?”

The three stopped. They exchanged perplexed glares, then Ura scrolled his shoulders.

“No idea!”

However, as soon as they reached the main corridor, they heard a strange music among the crowd.

_Weeeeee are the champiooooons, my frieeeeeend…_

It wasn’t a music playing. It was someone who was singing.

_Huuuu hu hu hu huuu…_

And judging by his awful performance, he was quite a depressed singer. Yet there was something peculiar about that voice, coming weakly from a secondary corridor.

“Guys,” Hoshina muttered, stopping in the middle of the crowd to focus better on the notes, “do you recognise it?”

With a couple of leaps they crossed the main corridor and turned around the corner, following that dejected voice. A _well-known_ voice.

_And weeeee’ll keep on fiiiightiiiing, tiiill the eeeeend…_

After some more steps, they finally found him. Mopping around with slow and tired movements, keeping company to himself with some songs. Alone, resigned, with just a bucket standing next to him. Full of water, this time.

“…Atomu?” Hoshina muttered astounded. He was used to seeing their young goalie always full of energy, jumping and shouting here and there. The picture in front of his eyes now was quite a shocking one.

The freshman slowly turned his head towards them, narrowing his eyes to carefully stare at the intruders.

“…Guys?” He leaned against the mop to observe them better. Luckily, the mop was a new modern one without signs of cracks. As soon as he started to realise who they were, his eyes gradually opened wide in astonishment.

“GUYS.”


	6. Phone call

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fanart below! Enjoy :)  
> Blue

18:35

Aiba: so everyone is still alive

Hoshina: yes

Aiba: so you finally forgave them

Hoshina: yes

Aiba: everything okay then

Hoshina: more or less

18:36

Aiba: just wait two more days and you’ll go back to your normal midfielder-life

Hoshina: can’t wait to

Aiba: lol

Aiba: you miss soccer?

18:37

Hoshina: of course

Hoshina: life isn’t the same without it

Aiba: damn

Aiba: extreme

Hoshina: have you ever been suspended from your team? If not then you can’t understand

18:38

Aiba: nope

Hoshina: …for real?

Aiba: … YEAH?

Aiba: YOU’VE GOT PROBLEMS WITH THAT?!

Hoshina: not at all

Hoshina: I just thought you are definitely the type who gets suspended.

18:40

Aiba: EXCUSE ME

Aiba: where does this come from?!?

Hoshina: well, I’m getting to know you better now and you seem to be quite a troublemaker

Aiba: I-

Hoshina: so it could totally happen to you too.

Aiba: what the hell

18:41

Aiba: how rude of you

Hoshina: c’mon, you can’t be offended

Aiba: I AM

18:42

Hoshina: I’m sure this isn’t the first time you get such comments

Hoshina: probably both your captain and Kamimura secretly think this

Aiba: YOU

Aiba: okay

Aiba: send me a carrier pigeon when you stop being so salty.

Aiba: Aiba out.

Aiba: bye.

Aiba: _GIF_

18:45

Hoshina: hahaha

 

_“Oh God, he laughed. HE LAUGHED!”_ Aiba’s phone nearly slipped out of his hands. He stared at those few syllables with astonishment. Then that guy knew how to write down _haha_ for real. He wondered whether Hoshina had just typed it or had actually smiled. The picture of him slightly smiling at his rant was at the same time warming and even more irritating. His fingers were already about to type an answer, yet he stopped, biting his lower lip, deep in thought. To tell the truth, he was a bit offended for real.

_“I mean, where does that rudeness even come from? Can this really happen to him?!”_ Aiba pouted, his hands now clenching the phone like a stress ball. Then he decided to leave it on the table and jumped on the couch, turning on the tv and zapping in search of something nice to watch.

_“You know what? I’m not answering you, salty captain!”_

 

 

 

19:34

_“…Is he really offended?”_ Hoshina tilted his head on one side, glaring confused at the dark screen. No, it couldn’t be, there must be a trick there. Aiba wasn’t the type to get seriously offended for such things, he was sure of it.

 

19:36

Hoshina: …Aiba?

 

He was just teasing him a bit. Really, nothing to be angry for. It wasn’t something he did very often, but with Aiba it came just natural. And little by little Hoshina had to admit that he didn’t dislike teasing him, at all. His reactions were just too funny, his manners so blunt and spontaneous.

And yet…

 

20:00

Hoshina: are you still there?

 

He tilted his head on the other side. Now he was getting worried. He stayed there for five more minutes, sitting at the table, his arms nicely rested on it, his eyes fixed at the dark screen. A confused expression spread on his face, eyebrows furrowed. He was about to apologise when a reply came.

 

20:06

Aiba: huh?

 

Okay, that was not the answer he expected. That was an utterly weird answer. Aiba seemed to be more confused than him, and that said a lot.

 

20:08

Hoshina: …are you okay?

 

_“Crap, I fell asleep!”_ Aiba slapped his face with a pillow in the hope of waking up quicker. Instead of the show he had been watching before now the news were being announced. He yawned, and a weird feeling on his cheek made him realise that he had drool all over his face. How shameful. There was absolutely _no way_ he could tell Hoshina the truth, he would have laughed at him for the rest of his life.

 

20:09

Aiba: sure!

 

He took a deep breath and stood up. _Just act normal and everything will be okay_ , that’s what he thought. No matter how smart Hoshina was, he could’ve never guessed such a thing. Aiba was 100% sure of it.

 

20:09

Hoshina: … were you sleeping?

 

_“…Shit.”_ He was speechless. Yes, he fell asleep while watching tv, like a baby. That would have been a honest answer. However, by sending such a reply Aiba would have sentenced both his self-esteem and pride to death.

 

20:10

Aiba: yeah, might be

Aiba: just the last few minutes I guess

 

_“An hour. You loser.”_ Aiba frowned at his own reply.

 

Aiba: I was watching tv

Hoshina: nice

Hoshina: are you mad at me?

 

Aiba blinked, confused. Then he began to put all the pieces together and realised that he had left the conversation suddenly and without any explanation. This only meant that Hoshina had been waiting until then, worrying and wondering whether he had really been offensive toward him. All this when Aiba was peacefully snoring on the couch. God, he was so hopeless sometimes. He rushed to reply, hoping his friend wasn’t really feeling guilty toward him.

 

20:11

Aiba: no!

Hoshina: are you sure?

Aiba: yes!!

Hoshina: if I did upset you, I apologise.

 

Reading that message Aiba covered his face with his hands out of embarrassment. Poor Hoshina, a considerate guy like him dealing with such an idiot.

 

Aiba: don’t!!!

20:12

Hoshina: okay

Hoshina: …and so it turns out that you are a couch potato.

Aiba: …

Aiba: bold of you to say that

Aiba: SLOTH.

 

 

 

February, 22nd

16:24

Hoshina: how can you find videos like this one funny?

Aiba: IT’S PEOPLE HEROICALLY FAILING

Hoshina: no, it’s people getting hurt because they aren’t conscious enough of the risks.

Aiba: well that’s what I said

16:25

Hoshina: sure

Aiba: oh stop it

Aiba: Spirit of Seriousness, that’s how I’ll rename your contact

16:26

Hoshina: sure

Aiba: don’t “sure” me!!

Aiba: c’mon Taku, I can’t believe you’ve never done something so idiot in your life

Hoshina: I haven’t.

16:27

Aiba: don’t believe you. Dude, you have 2 brothers! You must’ve had fun in your old days!

Hoshina: people can have fun also without jumping in a frozen pool.

Aiba: ok that was bad I agree

Aiba: but there are so many stupid and harmless things to do too!

16:28

Hoshina: what’s the point in doing something if you already know it’s stupid?

Aiba: YOU-

Aiba: I-

Aiba: yeah yeah okay, keep being so pious

16:30

Aiba: I’ll unveil the real you one day!

Hoshina: what are you even talking about

Hoshina: this is the real me

16:31

Aiba: yeah sure, I can hear you laughing from Tokyo

Aiba: 100% pure Hoshiness with protected designation of origin

Hoshina: not to be rude but

Hoshina: I’M NOT A TYPE OF CHEESE.

16:34

Aiba: lmao hahahahaha

Hoshina: okay, let’s change topic.

16:36

Aiba: okay

Aiba: here it is

Aiba: I’ve had only 3 parfaits so far today and I’m disappointed

Hoshina: 3 parfaits sound fine to me actually.

Aiba: no.

Aiba: it’s a shame compared to my daily average

16:37

Hoshina: okay fine I won’t argue

Hoshina: just be careful with parfait, alright?

Aiba: …I see no way how parfait could harm me.

16:39

Hoshina: oh Lord

Hoshina: where do I start…okay hear this:

Hoshina: IT’S NOT HEALTHY.

Aiba: I’M A TEENAGER

Aiba: I’M HUNGRY.

16:41

Hoshina: I don’t care, there are plenty of other things you can eat.

Aiba: you sound like my mum!

Hoshina: yeah, poor mum

Hoshina: dealing with you since you were 0 years old

Aiba: I’M A GOOD GUY.

16:43

Hoshina: I don’t doubt it

Hoshina: yet it must be tough with someone like you

Aiba: someone like me????

Hoshina: yes

Hoshina: always so full of energy, so enthusiastic about life

16:44

Hoshina: a bit boastful and stubborn

Aiba: you know what, grandpa is more lively than you

Aiba: YOU ARE ALIVE TOO

16:45

Hoshina: oh I know

Hoshina: I guess we are just a bit different…

Aiba: you really should have more fun and let go some of your seriousness

Aiba: look at this chat, it’s funny

Aiba: you can be funny too!

16:46

Hoshina: …

Hoshina: this chat is a mess

Aiba: ok you were right

Aiba: WE ARE PROBABLY DIFFERENT

Aiba: but it’s fun, right?

16:47

Hoshina: yes

Hoshina: I actually enjoy talking with you.

 

He smiled while sending that reply. He really enjoyed spending his free time chatting with that guy. So different from him, yet so familiar to talk with. A friendship Hoshina was cherishing more than what he’d expect. The text window was still open on the screen when he received a call. Looking at the name, his heart both rejoiced and skipped a beat.

 

_“Hey Taku! How is my little brother doing?”_ It was Mitsuru calling from Osaka. Hoshina hadn’t heard of him for a while except for some quick texts and that call was pretty unexpected too. They usually called each other during weekends, when they both had some spare time after lunch or dinner. Nonetheless, Hoshina answered without hiding his joy to speak to him again. They were brothers, after all.

“I’m good thanks, you?”

_“Good, a bit tired but good. Now! Listen Taku, you are coming to Osaka in March.”_

Hoshina’s heart skipped a beat again. Yet there was no joy accompanying it this time.

“I- what?”

_“I’ve already told mum and dad, you’ll stay a couple of days at my place.”_ He blinked twice, trying to figure out why his parents hadn’t told him anything about this. He didn’t expect this invitation to Osaka at all, and he couldn’t get the whole point of visiting his brother in this moment of the year. Suddenly he started to feel tense.

“But why?”

_“Hello little brother, time to get up! The club! They want to have a talk with you and-”_

“They shouldn’t.” Hoshina cut short, not letting his brother add even a syllable. “I didn’t meet their requirements. Period.” And that was _all_. The whole nationals thing had already hurt him enough, there was no need to linger over this any longer.

_“True, but it was just one championship out of six after all. And you know, I always speak well of my brother!”_

Those last words hit him like a bullet. He needed a couple of seconds to regain lucidity. Then his words came out as a feeble whisper, as if he didn’t have enough air in his lungs to give voice to his thoughts.

“You convinced them..”

_“No. I told you: I only speak well of you, the rest is up to them.”_

Hoshina didn’t believe him. And he couldn’t believe this was really happening either. Showing favouritism was something Hoshina Takumi had never accepted. Relatives, friends or even strangers, no matter who, to him using shortcuts to achieve unfair success in life was indecent and villain. That’s why being the subject of that favouritism was like becoming a partner in crime. He felt morally dirty. Disgusting.  

“Mitsuru, I’ve already told you that I don’t like these th-”

_“Zip it, Taku.”_ This time it was his brother who silenced him. _“Say, have you received any offer? Since you are so snob.”_ Hoshina didn’t know if that harsh tone came out by mistake or was really meant by his brother. His sixth sense opted for the second option though.

“No, I haven’t.”

_“Did you contact any club in or outside Tokyo?”_

“No.”

_“For God’s sake Takumi, are you fucking serious? Honestly, are you still aiming at pro soccer?”_ Yes, his brother really meant it. Those spiteful words hurt.

“Yes I am-”

_“Then get a move on and stop messing around, dammit.”_ They really hurt.

“I’m not messing around.”

_“Oh? Then tell me, what keeps you busy, huh? School homework? Visiting grandma now and then?”_ Damn, they hurt so much. Hoshina’s brain had difficulty processing what was going on. Tenseness and anxiety started to mix up with pain, while insecurity began to choke him.

“Why do you have to talk to me like that? I’m busy with my things, is it a crime?” His voice now was shaky and he cursed himself for that. He began to feel powerless in comparison to his brother. This, unluckily, was no news to him. If there was a person that could really put Hoshina under tremendous pressure until making him so fragile to break him into pieces, it was his brother Mitsuru. He didn’t know why. Probably a divergence of characters and opinions, which showed also on the pitch. Probably the age difference, with Mitsuru being the firstborn child and Takumi being the youngest of three brothers - and frankly the most sensitive of them. To say it bluntly, sometimes Hoshina couldn’t really find the strength - and courage? - to answer or argue in favour of what he thought. For example, in this case, that he had no intention of accepting an offer from Osaka, being perfectly aware that without Mitsuru playing there the club would’ve already forgotten about him and his failed attempt to play at Nationals. Yet he felt too vulnerable and afraid, and the most shocking thing was that it happened only with Mitsuru. The sense of freedom he had with Seiya vanished when he had to deal with the oldest brother, especially when facing serious issues. Like this one.  

_“I talk to you like that because I want you to hurry up and find your way. You are already terribly late, Taku. The J-League starts in March. You have only a couple of weeks to find a decent club, move to a new city and begin training with your new teammates. You’ll need time to adapt to everything, from your new apartment to the new pitch. You won’t sleep well the first weeks due to the new environment and you’ll suffer from anxiety. Not to mention when you’ll play in your first matches.”_ That whole rant about time running out was the final blow. Sometimes, when his friends and teammates asked him about his future as a pro, an alarm bell used to ring in his head, in the hope it would wake him up and make him realise that, actually, he really had little time to find his way in the merciless universe of professional soccer. However, Hoshina had always preferred turning that distracting bell off to enjoy every single moment spent with his team. _Touin_. The reason of his running away from reality was probably the fact that he wasn’t ready to leave Touin at all. Touin was his real home, his warm nest. Flying off was still something Hoshina couldn’t imagine. However, that moment was slowly but surely coming, and Mitsuru’s words were louder than any ringing bell.

_“Taku are you ready for this? This is the J-League we are talking about. Japan’s first division. It’s no joke. It won’t be just soccer anymore, it will be your job. There will be a contract with your signature on it.”_

“Yes…”

_“I want to help you. That’s what I’m here for. I want you to be at ease and to enjoy it, okay? And to have success.”_

“I know…” Because Hoshina knew his brother loved him and cared about him. He knew he was being harsh because he believed in him and wanted the best for him. He just couldn’t deal with him properly and he didn’t know why he felt so under pressure.

_“So try to be a bit more interested in your future, okay?”_ Not receiving any reply, his brother went on. _“You’ll come here on the 1st of March. We’ll spend a day together just you and I, then you’ll meet the club commission and have a nice talk. If you make a good impression they’ll probably invite you to take part to a training session, to see how you do. I’m sure you’ll do brilliantly, like always.”_

“The 1st of March.. that’s in one week time…” He knew that only because his eyes were fixed on the wall in front of him, where the calendar was, otherwise he probably wouldn’t have answered this time either.

_“Yes. Anyway, I’ll call you again to give you more details, okay?”_

“Okay..”

_“Good. By the way, keep your eyes open. Can’t wait to have you here! Bye!”_

“Bye..” Hoshina’s lips parted to let out that last syllable, yet no sound came out. At least that was his impression. His mind wasn’t clear enough to say that with confidence.

As soon as he heard Mitsuru hang up, he felt like he was going to faint. His heart was beating slowly and with fatigue, yet it seemed about to explode in his chest. His mind was completely blank. Every single cell of his body seemed on the brink of collapse. The phone fell on the floor without any warning. He looked down at his hands. They were shaking. He was entirely shaking like a leaf. His mouth was half open, yet his lungs seemed to have forgotten how to work. A tear left his left eye to slowly descent on his cheek. Another one soon followed. A sob after the other, he cried, while standing still in the middle of his room, completely petrified. Completely shattered. And completely misunderstood. Alone.

 

 

 

 

Aiba looked at his phone for one last time. It was nearly midnight and he had been lying in bed for more than an hour, waiting for Hoshina to reply to the message sent in the afternoon. There were many explanations he had come up with during the evening, yet none of them seemed to make sense.

_“Maybe he’s training.”_

No, because that wasn’t the right hour for training on Friday. Aiba had come to the point of knowing Hoshina’s exact school and soccer routine, and Hoshina could tell the same about him.

_“Maybe he’s got an extra session…”_

More possible than the first option, yet it would have already ended.

_“Maybe his phone needs recharging…”_

Bullshit, it would have been ready in an hour time. Plus, the iPhone was finally back, 100% fixed. And iPhones don’t need half a day to recharge.

_“Maybe he read the text but forgot to answer…”_

Hoshina Takumi that forgets to answer?! No, impossible. And even if it had actually happened, he would have looked at the phone at least once during the evening, right? And their conversation was so pleasant and enjoyable that he couldn’t believe Hoshina had forgotten about it.

_“Maybe… he  found something more interesting to do.”_

That was the only reasonable conclusion he got to. And since he hadn’t been able to find any other theory, that was what eventually convinced him to turn the phone off, not to get distracted by the light of new notifications. To be honest, he knew that there wouldn’t have been any.

And so he tried to fall asleep, rolling from one side of the bed to the other a thousand times, his head fixed at a constant thought: what on Earth could have happened to him to suddenly drop their conversation like that.

_“I actually enjoy talking with you.”_

“That’s gonna be a long night, I guess.” After changing position for the umpteenth time, Aiba let out a loud sigh. He felt annoyed and terribly frustrated at not knowing what his friend had been doing for the last couple of hours. He suddenly recalled when as a kid people used to ask him which superpower he wanted to have, if he could get any. To fly, to be invisible on the pitch, to eat an indefinite number of triple chocolate parfaits without ending up having stomach ache... and so on and so on. Some of his answers were really inventive, yet now his perfect superpower would have been simple and down to earth: just being able to see where he was and what he was doing. However, he didn’t know that if he really could’ve done such thing, the picture he would’ve seen would probably have hurt him even more.

* * *


	7. Brothers and dreams

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So, there were things that made him happy. First of all, Hoshina was still alive, and that was a key point. Secondly, he kindly apologised, as expected. Thirdly, the reason behind his disappearance from Aiba’s radar was simply a call between brothers. Good.  
> And yet, Aiba couldn’t really smile. He couldn’t because that voice didn’t seem Taku’s one. Because there was something sad in that tired voice, something which wasn’t quite right. “Sorry Aiba, everything is fine now. Except it’s not.” Yes, that was the underlying message.

 

When the alarm went off at 7 am, Hoshina had just fallen asleep. After a turbulent night that didn’t let him rest properly, the idea of getting up and live a new day sounded like a nightmare. A real nightmare.

_Osaka. The first of March. One week. A contract._

Hoshina buried his head under the pillow, wishing to disappear with a magic trick. He remembered when as a kid he used to play with his brothers at home on their parents' bed, jumping and wrapping up each other in blankets and bed sheets and playing hide and seek. It was nice. All three of them serenely playing together in one room and having fun. Understanding each other with an exchange of gazes. That was what Hoshina missed the most from those old days.

He let out a loud and desolated sigh, while his hands clenched the pillow harder. He felt like shit. He didn’t like using bad words, even in his thoughts, but in that moment he couldn’t care less.

When he eventually heard someone knocking on the door, he snapped. With nervous movements that didn’t suit him he finally left the bed and reached the door.

“Uh, good morning..” Kaidou was standing there, fresh and ready to go, smiling as usual “…is something off?” Just by looking at his face he was able to see that something was wrong. Well, he was his best friend after all.

“If you are here to remind me of the practice match, I am getting ready.” Hoshina grumbled, forgetting the fact that he was barely wearing shorts, “You can go without me, I’m coming in ten minutes.” He would explain everything to him eventually. Just not now.

“Okay…” Kaidou pouted, trying to read his friend between the lines, “actually I was here because last night I reminded you about today’s match with a message, but you didn’t answer. So I just wanted to check.”

At those words Hoshina’s mind went suddenly blank and confusion spread all over his face.

“A message?”

“Yeah, I mean...” Kaidou mumbled, a bit confused too, “a message…on your phone…”

“Sorry, I didn’t see it.” Hoshina looked down at his feet with a guilty expression, while Kaidou patted him on the shoulder, friendly as always. “Never mind! See you later.”

A few seconds later Hoshina was left alone in his room again. He tiredly fell on the bed, taking the phone in his hands. He didn’t unlock it though. He was terribly afraid of doing so. Afraid of reading a message notification from Mitsuru about Osaka, or the messages Kaidou sent him the night before. He felt mortified for not having replied to him. He’d always thought that not replying to people’s messages was disrespectful. Therefore, not having replied to his best friend and -

 _Oh_.

It was like a thunderbolt. Aiba. He hadn’t heard of him from the afternoon before. It was as if last night had swallowed up everything like a black hole. His eyes fixed on the floor again, while he bit his lower lip with an uneasy feeling of shame shouldering him.

_“I’m so bad.”_

As soon as he felt his eyes getting teary, he shut them. Probably there was no need to cry for something like this, yet he was so emotionally unstable at the moment that even killing a mosquito would have made him feel like a shitty person who didn’t deserve anything from the world. But honestly, how could he think about becoming pro and have success in a new team if he wasn’t even able to take care of his friends? After taking a deep breath he finally unlocked the phone. The result was somehow both comforting and painful. Comforting because there were only Kaidou’s messages among the unread ones, which meant Mitsuru hadn’t contacted him again. Painful because that also meant Aiba hadn’t texted him either. The burden on his shoulders felt heavier. He tried to type a message but he cancelled the first words straight away. Just typing a “sorry” was simply shameful. Then he thought about calling him, but he actually didn’t have enough time to make a respectable call to apologise and he was afraid of the possible questions Aiba could ask him, namely “ _why didn’t you reply? What happened?”_ He wasn’t even remotely ready for that. He hadn’t mentioned the fact even to Kaidou, let alone to Aiba. So he opted for a third alternative, a sort of compromise between the previous ones, which seemed to him the best solution so far. Then he quickly got ready and left his room, heading to the stadium with a lump of anxiety stuck in his throat. For the first time in his life Hoshina wasn’t sure that playing soccer would help him temporarily forget his problems.

 

 

 

 

07:16

Hoshina: _vocal message_

 

When the notification light appeared on the screen of his phone, Aiba had to stare at it for more than usual to believe it. A vocal message. It was the first time Hoshina sent him a vocal. Maybe he wanted to do more than simply writing a text to show that he was sorry. Knowing him, it would be totally Hoshina-like. Without thinking too much about what to do or what to expect, he pressed the button and his friend’s voice reached his ears.

 

_Hey Aiba.. uh.. I’m sorry for yesterday. I got a call from my brother and.. uh… I got suddenly busy until late and didn’t text you back… I’m sorry. …Please accept my apologies. I hope you are alright..  I have a practice match now, so I’ll talk to you later.. Have a nice day.. Bye._

 

Okay, that was basically what he expected but at the same time what he _didn’t_ expect. He listened to it once again, while he slowly enjoyed his breakfast parfait, spoon after spoon. After a second, a third and even a fourth time, the bittersweet feeling was still there, looming over his head. He put the phone down and focused on eating his parfait. That would help him think better, he knew that.

So, there were things that made him happy. First of all, Hoshina was still alive, and that was a key point. Secondly, he kindly apologised, as expected. Thirdly, the reason behind his disappearance from Aiba’s radar was simply a call between brothers. Good.

And yet, Aiba couldn’t really smile. He couldn’t because that voice didn’t seem Taku’s one. Because there was something sad in that tired voice, something which wasn’t quite right. “ _Sorry Aiba, everything is fine now. Except it’s not.”_ Yes, that was the underlying message. He began to slowly torture the spoon with his teeth, trying to figure out how to approach him. Of course he’d ask him whether he was okay, but he was afraid of looking too nosy or reminding him of a situation that maybe he didn’t want to talk about. In the end he opted for being just the friend Hoshina knew.

_“Just look cheerful and full of energy as always, that’s what Taku sees in you.”_

And maybe, that’s what his friend actually needed in that moment.

 

07:35

Aiba: Hey Taku! That’s okay!

Aiba: never mind :)

Aiba: talk to you later!!

 

Yes, that was totally the best thing Aiba could do for him. Replying with a hundred exclamation marks and reassuring him on the fact that he held no grudge. He listened to the message once again, trying to detect every nuance of his voice.

_Please accept my apologies._

Those four words uttered with a resentful and soft tone made him forget all the bad thoughts he had that night. Indeed, he accepted those apologies straight away and forgave him in an instant. Slowly but surely he was realising he had a weak spot for Hoshina’s kindness and respectful manners. If you added a soft, apologetic voice to that, Aiba was done for sure.

 

 

* * *

 

 

“Something’s off with you today, huh?” Seiya joked while they walked back to the dorm after the practice match. As he received only a glowering stare as response, he continued. “I noticed it as soon as you stepped on the pitch. When I got past you for the second time I was nearly sure of it. And when I talked to you and you didn’t even look at me, well, that’s when I had the ultimate proof.”

“Why didn’t you tell me about Osaka? You knew.”

Seiya blinked, slightly annoyed by the abrupt change of subject and the bad-tempered tone of his brother. He didn’t like making questions and getting no answers. At the end of the day, he was his older brother too, and he demanded respect. Yet, given the tension that loomed over his brother’s head, he decided to make an exception.

“What? Osaka? Well, because I didn’t want to ruin the surprise.” He spoke in honesty while shrugging his shoulders, appalled by the worrying fact that Takumi had still trouble figuring out such things as _keeping silent so that the news will make someone even happier_.

“ _Surprise_ is the last word I’d use to describe that.” Takumi snapped, angrily pulling the door of their dorm.

“Excuse me? Do you have a problem with that?” And at those mocking words he eventually lost it.

“I don’t want any recommendations Seiya,” he hissed, turning his face at him and going straight to the point, “and you know Mitsuru is doing literally that.”

Seiya opened his eyes wide, incredulous, while he took longer strides to keep pace with him. “Mitsuru is doing _what_?”

“He’s speaking in favour of me.”

He also raised his eyebrows, a bit frightened by the answer he was expecting. “…And?”

“And I have absolutely no intention of accepting this.” There it was, the answer he expected. He covered his face with the palm of the hand and let out a stressed sigh, visibly annoyed.

“Takumi, for God’s sake-”

“No. I don’t want to be backed in this way.” Hoshina stopped mid-way, staring firmly at him. “I don’t want to be shown any favouritism just because my brother plays in the J-League. I only want to be recognised because of my talent and my skills. And you know that.”

Seiya sighed loudly again while both of them were approaching his room. How could he explain? He perfectly knew the situation. Mitsuru had called him a couple of times recently, keeping him updated about the rumours going around the club. Every time they talked, he could feel his brother’s enthusiasm for this possible turn of events.

“Taku… Mitsuru cares for you more than his own life…”

That enthusiasm was natural, since Mitsuru and Takumi had always dreamt of playing together one day. Seiya, having only 2 years of difference with the older one, had the chance to play with him during high school at Touin. Takumi had never played with any of them, being too young. However, it was clear to everyone in the family that Takumi and Mitsuru shared a special bond. That unique form of love that developed spontaneously the moment Mitsuru, already 6 years old, hold in his arms with the help of their father the newborn brother. Of course they loved Seiya too and he loved them back, yet he could feel - without any disappointment or grudge - that those two were particularly connected to each other. And the chance to see them playing together in the J-League made him extremely happy too.

“His aim is not to recommend you. His aim is simply to play with you, like both of you’ve always wanted. Why can’t you see that?”

Because like in every fairy tale, there was an obstacle. And that obstacle was - paradoxically - Takumi’s righteous personality. The fact that he always put his morale before everything, even before the loved ones and his desires. He was too strict with himself, but that was no news to them. However, there were times when those principles and values really became dangerous. By abiding to them with such a hard discipline, Takumi would eventually risk losing not only important opportunities, but also people close to him. And this was one of those circumstances.

“ _He won’t be happy, I know_ ” Mitsuru told him once on the phone, “ _But I’m sure he’ll understand. After all, he wants to play with me too. He’s my little brother. It’s our dream, isn’t it?_ ”

“And why can’t _you_ understand me?” Takumi interrupted his flow of thoughts with an angered and exasperated voice, “I want to play with him too. Besides, I wish I could play with you as well. _But not in this way_.” The resolute tone that accompanied that last sentence sounded like a full stop. He didn’t want to betray anyone. He didn’t want to betray his brothers. But he didn’t want to betray _himself_ either. And the fact that he struggled to convey this to none other than his brothers hurt him terribly. “Why can’t you understand me?” He asked one more time, tired of this whole situation, while his eyes got hopelessly teary. He sighed heavily and lowered his head, the shoulders bent down as well. That image hurt Seiya. He wasn’t there to argue with Takumi and make him feel more misunderstood than what he probably already felt. He wanted to help him somehow, to explain to him that there was nothing wrong in going to Osaka and see what they planned to offer him.

“Personally I think you are worrying too much about nothing, Taku. If anything, you will have to show your skills in a test anyway, so…”

“Yes, but…” His brother seemed to regain some lucidity and finally get his point, but an instant later his expression saddened again.  “I don’t want to go…” He murmured downhearted, while he felt the last bit of resolution leaving him. Hoshina felt utterly miserable in that moment. He felt like a child frowning and weeping for a mere whim. Immature. Still shamefully _green_ , like Mitsuru had once told him after the match against Seiseki.

Seiya bit his lower lip mortified. He understood that with those last words Takumi was begging him to stand by his side, to tell him “ _you know what, you are right, I’m going to talk with Mitsuru and we’ll find a solution._ ” That was undoubtedly what his younger brother wished to hear from him. For Takumi, he was his last shelter, the last person who could possibly understand him. But Seiya could never give him that answer. And he didn’t do that because of a whim, but because he believed that that was the best for Takumi’s future.

“I’m sorry Taku, really, but I think your brother is right.” He stood with Mitsuru - and _their entire family_. He preferred not to mention that fact though. Taku wouldn’t have been happy to find out that everyone at home was already cheering for him and Mitsuru as teammates. Takumi glanced at him heartbroken. Seiya took a step closer to him and placed a hand on his shoulder. “You are going to Osaka.” Seeing tears on the verge of falling from his brother’s eyes, his grip tightened in what seemed an hopeless attempt to give him strength. “And of course I’ll cheer for you. As I’ve always done.”

Hoshina didn’t answer. He didn’t have neither the strength, nor the courage to do so. And after all, it looked like any justification or further explanation wouldn’t have worked. He moved away from his brother’s grip in silence, walking down the corridor and heading to his room with a lump in his throat and eyes fixed at the floor. If someone saw him in that moment, they probably wouldn’t even recognise him. There was nothing left in him that could resemble the spirit and resolution of a captain, not to mention a Top Ten player. If someone saw him in that moment, they probably would have seen just a desolated weakling entering a room.

 

 

* * *

 

 

17:47

Hoshina: hello

Hoshina: sorry, I got free only now

 

“ _Actually I was already free, but I wasn’t ready to talk… sorry_.” Hoshina thought to himself while sending the text. He had spent the afternoon in his room, at the mercy of negativity and doubts. He’d never felt so afraid of the future. He’d always known what to do in his life. Now he had no idea of how to _live_. He felt so fragile he was afraid of falling into pieces at the first touch.

 

 

 

17:50

Aiba: hey! Don’t worry, I was busy today too :)

Aiba: are you feeling better?

17:51

Hoshina: I’m okay, why do you ask?

 

“ _Because you sounded broken this morning, dude_.” Aiba frowned, looking at the badly concealed attempt of his friend to sound as if nothing had happened to him. Again, he mulled over what to say. This time though, he decided to give it a little try, hoping that Hoshina would eventually be more open.

 

17:53

Aiba: idk, your voice in the vocal sounded different

Aiba: maybe it was just my impression!

Aiba: even a genius like me can be wrong sometimes ;)

17:54

Hoshina: ok well, this time you are right

 

“ _I knew that_.” Aiba nodded with a knowing smile on his lips, “ _After all_ , _I’m a genius_.”

 

Hoshina: but I’m not really in the mood to talk about this

 

“ _I don’t want you to tell me the same my brothers already said_.” He was afraid of what Aiba could think of him if he knew. He waited to text him for that reason and now that he had just admitted that he had a problem he was already running away. Not because he didn’t consider Aiba enough of a friend to ask him an opinion, but because he was scared of _namely_ that opinion. The opinion that might put Aiba against him and eventually leave him alone.

“ _At least you_. _Please_.”

 

Hoshina: I’m sorry

 

Aiba blinked and stood there for a bit, his fingers tightly clenched around the phone. He didn’t feel disappointed by the fact that Hoshina didn’t want to talk to him about it. After all, Takumi looked like a very reserved person and they weren’t that close yet, so it was totally comprehensible that he didn’t feel ready. However, there was something that annoyed him about the way his friend acted. And after reading the texts again he finally realised what it was.

 

17:56

Aiba: Taku

Hoshina: yes?

Aiba: stop saying sorry

 

Yes, those “sorry” were definitely too many. He didn’t like that self-pitying mood at all. No matter what the reason was, it just didn’t suit Hoshina. Or at least the image Aiba had of him.

 

17:57

Hoshina: ah.. sorry

Aiba: TAKU

Hoshina: no I mean

Hoshina: I’m sorry I said sorry

Aiba: JUST DON’T “SORRY” ME

17:58

Hoshina: ok…

Aiba: seriously dude, there is no need for you to feel sorry

Aiba: you simply don’t want to talk about something, that’s it

Aiba: it happens that some days are crap

Aiba: it’s not your fault

Aiba: so stop apologising

17:59

Aiba: I don’t want you to apologise just because you don’t feel like talking about your shit with me

 

“ _Your shit_ …” Hoshina read the message again. Then he gave a quick look at the room. The books open on the desk without anyone reading them. The school uniform sadly left on the back of the chair. The blanket wrapped up on one side of the bed with some tissues around. A mess, a complete mess. “ _Yeah, that’s totally my shit_.” He thought to himself, frowning. Aiba had no clue what that shit was about in particular, yet he had already nailed it. And actually, in that moment Hoshina had the impression that that guy might actually understand him. He wished he could meet him soon again. Maybe pay him a visit in Nagasaki.

“ _Wait a minute_ …” He narrowed his eyes deep in thought, while his fingers stopped mid-air and waited to know what to text. Nagasaki was far from Tokyo… _but a little less far from_ _Osaka_.

 

18:05

Hoshina: alright

Hoshina: anyway,

Hoshina: I might have the chance to come to Nagasaki in 2 weeks.

18:06

Aiba: REALLY???

 

“ _IS HE JOKING?”_ Aiba’s jaw dropped. He blinked twice in astonishment. Honestly, that guy and his blunt way of saying things would cause him a heart attack one day. And yet, a sudden burst of joy seemed to flip upside down the whole day.

 

Hoshina: yes

Aiba: and you just tell it to me like this?

18:07

Hoshina: well I’m not 100% sure yet

Hoshina: it’s quite long and complicated

Aiba: send me a vocal then!! :D

18:09

Hoshina: ok…

Hoshina: but don’t get used to it.

Aiba: lol I already am

Aiba: :)

 

 

 

 


End file.
